Five albums into their career, Seattle's BOAT have carved out a niche in the crowded contemporary indie rock landscape by delivering consistent, tuneful power-pop with a sense of humor. Band captain D. Crane lands somewhere between an earnest Stephen Malkmus and a focused Robert Pollard on the vocal spectrum, depending on the release; he churns out melodic guitar lines and driving rhythms with the help of his bandmates, and cracks wise about shooting the breeze with his mom over a plate of nachos. While previous albums offered opportunities for wisecracks and appreciative homage-- the heavily referential cover of 2011's Dress Like Your Idols is one such example-- their newest record, Pretend to Be Brave, finds the group maintaining their finely honed sonic equilibrium while exploring intriguing new lyrical motifs.
For a breezy, compact guitar pop record, Pretend to Be Brave is surprisingly concerned with maturity and mortality, and this juxtaposition is the source of some of the album's finest moments. Crane immediately explores the former on the wonderful album opener "Sharpshooters", a lovely ode to domesticity and companionship that celebrates the resiliency of an adult relationship. The song is BOAT at its best: playful, concise, and armed with sweet, taut guitar melodies. Elsewhere the album is peppered with statements that often opt for gravity over sardonic wit, from the rain-soaked near-death narrative of "Inside an Aquarium" to the nautical adventure gone awry of "With the Sea at My Back." Album closer "Grind Likes Gears" strikes the record's most poignant, bittersweet note, chugging slowly and flecked with pedal steel: "As months turn into years/ We grind to halt like gears/ Stripped of all their paint and rusting away." Crane's endearing yelp ably supports these newly serious lyrical themes: he sings about love, aging, and death with an appropriate degree of emotional investment, and never seems flippant.
BOAT's attempts to pair their more complex thematic material with equally engaging songs achieve varying levels of success. The presence of guest vocalist Shelley Short elevates several tracks to new heights, her sweetness complementing and softening the high end of Crane's vocal work; on standout "Interstellar Helen Keller," their interplay is simultaneously reminiscent of both Eternal Summers and the New Pornographers' super duo of Neko Case and A.C. Newman. That said, the band's tendency towards brevity occasionally means worthy ideas or melodies are cut short and prematurely discarded. The aforementioned "Sore Toes and Elbows" soars to a powerful climax but lacks the lengthy build-up it deserves, and a handful of songs on the album's back half hint at interesting rhythms and melodies without allowing them room to breathe. Crane and his bandmates have tapped into a reservoir of solid ideas that are ripe for expansion, and Pretend to be Brave indicates they could justify using the extra space and time.
