Holy second term, it's now three years further away from the 1960s than when the Essex Green last invoked that era's blithe folk-rock. Apparently the band noticed, too: On Cannibal Sea, the Brooklyn-via-Vermont Elephant 6 progeny who once insisted, "I'll see you in the '60s," come to terms with Rupert-Murdoch's-MySpace era, though without straying too far from their cherished influences. They're still cheery and hook-laden, although-- apropos of the times-- a little less innocent, a little less free.
Where previous albums wore the same sepia patina of nostalgia cast by labelmates the Clientele, Cannibal Sea's most immediate track, "Don't Know Why (You Stay)", sparkles with new wave synths and itchy electric-guitar palm-mutes; Chris Ziter's lilting, faintly geeky vocals steering the tune toward the New Pornos more than the Cars. Ziter's harmonies with Sasha Bell are the most affecting moments on song and album alike. They're equally essential on Bell-fronted freshmaker "Elsinore", while "Penny & Jack" does windswept mid-80s British. These here are streamlined pop machines; they take few chances but always do the job.
Sure, presentation's more Now, but the compositions still hearken the usual back-in-the-day way. Opener "This Isn't Farm Life" shoots a Motown charge into either/both the Kinks' "Victoria" or Belle & Sebastian's "Like Dylan in the Movies", as Bell tosses off lines about the Iliad in her deceptively plainspoken voice. "Snakes in the Grass", complete with well-timed rattles, borrows the powwow stomp of Paul Revere and the Raiders' "Indian Reservation", amid Revolver-flanged vocal responses that represent one of the disc's too-rare nods toward the band's vaguely psychedelic history. Ziter sounds like an actually singing-enabled Ringo amid the seaworthy acoustic guitars of "The Pride".
By the end, it's 40 minutes later, you've been to a wintry "Sin City" that's actually just Ohio, run down the "Rue de Lis" like Paul Simon singing "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright" to "Homeward Bound", and gone all Watership Down English folk for "Rabbit". The difference, as between fellow Merge band the Rosebuds' debut and sophomore albums, is a greater engagement with the prevailing indiepop aesthetic rather than long-dead flower-cliché epochs, though without quite the songwriting chops of Bell and guitarist Jeff Baron's other band, Ladybug Transistor.
