Rachel Flotard
and
Ben Hooker
return kicking, five years after the Seattle trio's sophomore effort
Sunset on Dateland
. The half-decade disappearance has had no deleterious effect on their big, heavy, melodic attack, despite the loss of northwest punk pioneer bassist
Kim Warnick
to retirement. The punky crunch of
Sunset
and 2003's hot
King Me
may have dissipated a soupcon without
Warnick
's tough punk-chick chops, but with
Nirvana
/
Foo Fighters
producer
Barrett Jones
manning the position -- and returning as engineer/co-producer --
Visqueen
's wild wallop remains hard 'n' tight. Perhaps their sound just tips closer to
Cheap Trick
now than
's
Fastbacks
, though fellow ex-
Fastback
Kurt Bloch
mixed this. (Scattered piano, organ, horns, pedal steel, cello, etc. add superb new depth and color, too.) And though there are copious guest stars such as
Neko Case
(on five songs;
Flotard
has similarly backed
the New Pornographers
, and
Case
, for years) and
the Long Winters
'
John Roderick
; the high-energy, uptempo, elastic blast of
is
's stock in trade, with her kick-ass licks (augmented by new second guitarist
Tom Cummings
), her commanding thick pipes and compassionate lyrics, and
Hooker
's slam-banging. Man, it's great to have them back. ~ Jack Rabid, The Big Takeover