The Districts was formed by four childhood friends in 2009, while they were still in high school, and the Lititz, Pa. band has since grown up in the public eye, having signed to Fat Possum in 2013. Their catalog traces the Districts’ evolution from indistinct blues rock to an infatuation with the early 2000s NYC scene. Along the way, they replaced founding guitarist Mark Larson with Pat Cassidy and worked with John Congleton (producer of records by St. Vincent and Cloud Nothings, among others), who recorded their 2015 sophomore LP A Flourish and a Spoil. On their third full-length, Popular Manipulations, the group dive headfirst into the earnest indie rock of the mid-2000s, particularly Spencer Krug’s least esoteric contributions to Wolf Parade. Congleton is back in the booth for four songs, but the band makes a big leap by producing the rest of the collection themselves. Like all of their work, it’s capable and tuneful and reveals a young band of skilled songwriters that put all their faith in their guitars, even if it’s often hard to pinpoint where their own vision begins and their taste ends.
On their 2015 album, the Districts rightfully focused on songwriting over style. Even when singer Rob Grote used his best Casablancas croon to sell his band’s dollar-slice-eating, bar-room appeal, there was never a sense that they were skimping on hooks. If anything, the Districts understood the youthful, carefree appeal of the bands they were aping, and were able to distill the highlights into something palatable. Popular Manipulations finds similar low barometers for successes and failures, but with a new sound that employs studio sheen and a heartfelt vocal delivery. Sure, there are times when Grote drones along zombie-like—the monotonous Liars-sounding opening of “If Before I Wake,” the return of Paul Banks’ robotic vocal influence on “Airplane”—but these outlying moments only highlight Grote’s strength when he bellows with tense desperation across the rest of the album. In fact, “If Before I Wake” juxtaposes the old and new Grote delivery in the same song, displaying an emotional depth never present in the Districts’ previous work.
Lead single “Ordinary Day” is fragile and thin when Grote opens the song by himself, but by the time the band piles on towering guitars, crashing cymbals, and manic vocal layers, its grandeur punctuates the singer’s bland question: “Will it hit you when the feeling’s right?” On “Capable,” Grote’s lyrics sidestep all ambiguity, speaking directly about divorce with both detail and insight, musing on the “mirage of permanence” and an inability to love. More than ever, there’s a sense that the audience is getting to know both Grote and the Districts through their music beyond just a show of influences. It matters less that “If Before I Wake” pulses with the same vocal delivery as Brandon Flowers used in the Hot Fuss-era, but that the song employs the familiar to forge a more rugged path.
Still, Popular Manipulations struggles to reach these heights consistently. “The point is beside the point now,” Grote sings on “Point,” offering the sort of logic that makes most sense through the bottom of a pint glass. There’s a handful of leftfield choices that sour some of the goodwill the record inspires, including the strained falsetto on “Why Would I Wanna Be,” which attempts to distinguish an otherwise innocuous cut. And the record’s closing moments on “Will You Please Be Quiet Please” fall short of a climax through sheer messiness. These stumbles further separate the Districts from their heroes, even if Popular Manipulations resonates more than their previous albums. Channeling and interpreting the appeal of beloved music isn’t an easy task, but for once, the Districts are on the cusp of turning it into something they can call their own.
