The fourth long-player by Portland, Ore., indie-folk group Norfolk & Western begins and ends with the sound of a rickety projector whirring through film, a cue that we're supposed to hear these songs in cinematic terms. Instead of Mercury Rev-style orchestral swells or the theatrical productions staged by the Decemberists, The Unsung Colony contains intimate scenes writ in miniature, small moments occasionally building up to big emotions or simply fading away. Continuing in the direction they took on last year's Gilded Age EP, Norfolk & Western's concerns remain atmospheric rather than sweepingly emotional or grandly narrative, and these songs are meant to evoke a time long in the past, when a loud projector would have been accompanied by a gramophone (like the one the band takes on tour) or a pianist.
For the most part, this tack works very well for Norfolk & Western, which originally began as a solo project by singer/songwriter Adam Selzer. However, in adding a fuller band with a more permanent lineup, the music has grown statelier, more ambitious, and more agile. The current lineup may be the best yet, cradling Selzer's songs in lush, dusty instrumentation, but his most formidable foil is former Decemberist Rachel Blumberg, whose rock drums propel the songs out of their backward-looking slouch and whose angelic, wordless vocals counter Selzer's on "Barrels on Fire". "The New Rise of Labor" bustles along on a tripping beat, its mix of instruments-- including piano, marimba, ukulele, banjo, and electric guitar-- creating a shuffling rhythm that mutates into boisterous noise before subsiding into "Rehearsing La Dolce Vita". The album's best songs immediately follow that introductory projector, retaining its acetone flicker: "The Longest Stare", a compact pop track that builds dramatically to an abrupt end, and "The Shortest Stare", whose jazzy guitar work complements the album's strongest melody.
The Unsung Colony can be a little awkward at times, as if the film has slipped the reel. The band has mastered a rise-and-fall dynamic that's common among indie bands (like Death Cab for Cutie), but don't do anything new or exceptional with it. When they settle into out-of-time pastoral pop on "How to Reel in" and "Drifter", their low-key instrumentation, subdued melodies, and Selzer's hushed vocals draw obvious comparisons to Mojave 3, albeit with more concrete lyrics. And, if The Unsung Colony really were a movie, you might be tempted to walk out before the end. The second side fails to develop the threads established by the first: The performances lose dimension, songs drag on too long and cause the scenes to lose their natural rhythm, and the audience grows restless as it bears indulgences like the old-timey instrumental "Atget Waltz" and the choppy "Banish All Rock". Despite its insistent horn fanfares, the seven-minute would-be epic "Arrangements Made" goes on and on but never arrives anywhere.
"From the Interests of Few" attempts to compare current political predicaments to those of 1968, but the contemporary touches sound a little out of place on an album that's so immersed in the distant past. Still, that song does make a certain kind of sense: The album sounds like it's intended to be the band's big statement, with a sweeping scope and songs that tell stories of the gold rush, the circus, teen runaways, and drifters. But Norfolk & Western don't draw clear metaphorical or musical connections between now and then, undershooting their thematic aim considerably. The Unsung Colony doesn't appear to be the climax of the band's career, just more rising action.
