There's something to be said for a band that knows their strengths and sticks to them. Take
Magnapop
, for example:
The Circle Is Round
is their first album in nearly a decade, but in the best possible way, it sounds like it could've been recorded the day after they made 2009's
Chase Park
or 1996's
Rubbing Doesn't Help
. It's not just that they haven't changed their sound much -- it's that they haven't needed to.
arrived at a time when jangly, crunchy guitar pop from a female-fronted band was the most popular since
's original early-'90s heyday; more importantly, despite their frequent lineup changes and label woes, they've proven themselves to be as consistently good as other '90s survivors like
the Breeders
and
Bettie Serveert
. As the album's title implies,
honor their past as well as their present on
. There's a good reason the charging "Dog on the Door" and "Super Size Me" and the bouncy power pop of "Need to Change" radiate an extra warmth: This is the band's first album with their original lineup -- singer/songwriter
Linda Hopper
, guitarist
Ruthie Morris
, bassist
Shannon Mulvaney
and drummer
David McNair
-- since 1994's
Hot Boxing
, and they recorded it at Marietta, Georgia's Furies Studio, where they laid down many of the songs that appeared on 1992's
. To the band's credit, all of this looking back never feels too bogged down by nostalgia, even when they revisit their earliest days. "Change Your Hair," which
Hopper
Morris
wrote the day they met, reaffirms that their mix of big melodies and rock adrenaline was potent from the start. That goes double for "Rip the Wreck," a song that first appeared as a B-side on their 1990 debut single, and the previously unreleased demos "Leo" and "Pretty Awful," a pair of barreling rockers that feel like they're going to be swept away by their own momentum. The album's only concessions to the years gone by may be "Rain Rain" and "Disabled," both of which have an introspective jangle that makes it easy to hear why
was in two bands with
Michael Stipe
before forming
. Both timely and time-tested,
is a fitting celebration of this band's enduring charms. ~ Heather Phares