Even an exceptional garage-rock band might be dismissed out-of-hand for failing to transcend its genre. This happens most often with critics, but there are understandably plenty of dilettante fans who only want to hear the most innovative, top-tier acts. It's a situation that keeps some great bands from getting great press and, in some cases, drives some of those cream-of-the-crop bands to distraction. It's a trap that Modey Lemon have fallen into: being an above-average garage-rock band from their debut up through Thunder + Lightning somehow wasn't enough. 2005's The Curious City added many psychedelic touches and ADHD song suites to their overall sound, and while they'd grown pretty far from their spirited beginnings, they managed to grow up with grace. The Curious City would have been a great album for them to ride off into the sunset on-- and after the three years of silence that followed, I'd assumed they had.
While the band's return from their hiatus is welcomed, Season of Sweets presents what would have made for a fine batch of rough-and-ready rock songs that the band should be used to cranking out, were they not weighed down by their grander ambitions. The proto-metal riff of "The Bear Comes Back Down the Mountain" is anchored by a purple synth-bass gurgle, and the rest of the record rolls forward on an impressive low-end rumble. The song nods to the psychedelia they dabbled with on Curious City, but adapted into their own more economical and familiar style. Yet its simple melody is stretched a bit thin over its five-minute duration, which sets the tone for this often loose, occasionally plodding batch of tunes. The dropped-note swing of "The Peacock's Eye" loses much of its momentum during a half-hearted instrumental interlude, and even the sugary chorus of "It Made You Dumb" grows tired the third time around. The drumming is inventive and buoyant throughout, but it would need to be-- even with the addition of Jason Kirker on bass, leaving Phil Boyd to Moog and guitar, the frequent instrumental breaks are often aimless. There's an appropriately icy guitar tone and the rattle of snare taps on "Ice Fields", though the vocoder and siren noises are superfluous details. This track and many others are close to the syrupy vintage psyche of their labelmates and buddies in Apes, though not nearly as thorough or convincing in their psychedelic nods.
While I'm not one to complain over someone taking a page from Oneida, the searing guitars and frantic organ riff of "Milk Moustache" is one of the few moments on the album where the band kicks up any dust. To be fair, most of these moments fall at the end of Season of Sweets, making for a record with a long, patient build rather than the usual peaks and valleys of standard album pacing. The title track takes off from that momentum with under three minutes of relentless drumming and a guitar part that's more squall than actual notes, yet with all its swagger it remains as sweetly melodic as its namesake. "Live Like Kids" is a 10-minute finale-- naturally-- and while its melody is static, they build tension gracefully and purposefully when given the space. As for the tracks preceding it, however, they seem to split the difference between adventurous and cathartic, reaching a middle ground that appeases neither end of the spectrum. It wasn't too long ago that the Modey Lemon had amassed unexpected confidence, but Season of Sweets sounds like a band still in transition.
