Well into their second decade with four albums in the rearview, tighten their alliance with Ohio's , the dusty soul specialists who have issued some of their singles, for . Recorded at their Transistor Sound Studio home base, this is a little trippier and looser than the preceding . Maybe it's merely coincidental, but it's certainly appropriate that the Bay Area band, recording for a Midwest label, move a little closer here toward the early-'70s output of Chicago and Detroit labels like , , and . They stretch out on "Last One Standing," unfurling a rolling groove that recalls 's "Move on Up," and at some points recall the slightly eerie rock/soul experiments conducted with (though the arsenal of keyboards for those sessions wasn't nearly as extensive). At the same time, often allude to the kind of turmoil and uncertainty shared by the evoked and current eras, intensifying the fraught mood by submerging their sound in reverb. No matter how much cloaks or smears his sweet and sour voice, he's one of the more affecting singers of his kind, the focal point amid an expertly arranged band and supporting voices, strings, and brass. ~ Andy Kellman