Robbers on High Street's 2005 debut, Tree City, sounded rooted in urban spaces, specifically their adopted hometown of New York City, where they bore endless kneejerk comparisons first to local boys the Strokes and then to Austinites Spoon. With the latter ascendant and the Brooklyn scene puttering out, Robbers might have a chance of actually outliving their early press and building a fanbase beyond the bloggers who exalted Tree City. So, on their follow-up, Grand Animals, they go transatlantic, living up to their name by indulging their jones for the jaunty hooks and clever wordplay of anglophile pop. The Spoon-ish headlong grooves that stamped their debut remain as a guiding light, but Robbers have made this album their application to the Village Green Preservation Society, endorsed by Gnarls Barkley producer Daniele Luppi.
Their membership is still being debated. Grand Animals may jostle for more musical elbow room, but it sounds just as preening as their previous efforts. Opener "Across Your Knee" and "Married Young" are both parlor pop at its most desperately clever and chipper, although the latter at least has Ben Trokan's game falsetto to recommend it. "Your Phantom Walks the Hall" and "Guard at Your Heel" bear the mark of Luppi most clearly: On the former, a flamenco guitar plucks out a light rhythm, while keyboards create a cloudy backdrop for Trokan's airy melody. On the latter, a low, loose brass band gives the song a carnival feel that sounds like a late-career Joe Henry b-side. They're intriguing, if not always persuasive sidestreets that you wish the band would explore more thoroughly.
With Robbers coming across less like actual robbers and more like Dickensian street urchins picking pockets of passersby, Grand Animals switches sounds and styles like street disguises. The opening chords of "The Ramp" recall the huckleberry friend part of "Moon River", although the band's intentions remain nicely ambiguous, and "Nasty Numbers" ends with a credible soft-rock outro that could have fueled the whole song. On the other hand, Robbers' soul groove and Trokan's falsetto delivery never really click on "You Don't Stand a Chance", and the Queen guitar line on closer "Keys to the Century" sounds distracting, like a heckler interrupting a valedictory address. In general, these songs work way too hard to attract and sustain your interest. Instead of picking your pocket, Robbers overstuff it with bills. Even then, there's not much of a payoff.
