What's that old cliche about "the more things change"?
The Radar Bros'
sixth album finds
Jim Putnam
breaking in yet another lineup of the band, with the singer, guitarist, and songwriter partnering with
Be Hussey
(ex-
Morsel
) on bass, keyboards, and guitar, and
Stevie Treichel
on drums and percussion. But a new set of collaborators hasn't had much audible impact on
the Radar Bros
;
The Illustrated Garden
is still dominated by the same sort of graceful but languid melodies and artfully incongruous lyrics that have been
Putnam
's stock in trade since the group's first album in 1996.
does feel a bit livelier and more concise than its immediate precursor, 2008's
Auditorium
; the interplay between the musicians feels honest and organic, and
"Rainbow"
and
"Quarry"
suggest that
and his compatriots could have actually rocked out if they'd had the ambition.
Hussey
Treichel
are good foils for
in the studio, lending fine harmony vocals and helping to create a sound that's surprisingly rich and carefully detailed for a trio. But even though
obviously knows how to write a pretty melody, he doesn't have a similar gift for making them stand out from one another, and this music often has the sort of immediate familiarity that isn't at all welcome. And while the random right angles of the lyrics serve as a clever counterpoint to the tuneful melodies, the trick would work better if the vocals ever called attention to themselves. Too much of
suggests not just music that appeared on earlier
Radar Bros
albums, but music that appeared earlier on
; there's no arguing
has a genuine talent for writing melodies and giving them shape in the studio, but he needs to add more colors to his palate if he expects people to come back to hear the same tale again and again. ~ Mark Deming