+/- really had inertia on their side. Their last album, Let's Build a Fire, gently suggested tomfoolery with its jack-in-the-box title track opener and the Postal Service-tinged "Steal the Blueprints"-- the lovely, inspiring highlight that began with a simple "Hey". The band was just starting to sweeten their electronic pop with little creative inklings. Alas, their latest album, Xs on Your Eyes, is calmer, but with no surprises. And unless I'm a weary parent, that's a crank I'm not too keen on turning.
Some of the same Fire elements are here: horns, classical guitar, pedal steel. But gone are the trumpets' screeches and full-fledged commands to burn away the past. Where Fire was bright-eyed, Eyes is bloodshot from a serial-sneezing fit caused by its own emotional dust bowl. The last time I heard about chalk outlines ("You'll Catch Your Death"), sedation ("Xs on Your Eyes"), and potential you'll never see ("Unsung"), I was on an Elliott Smith binge one rainy day ago. But the gloomy vibe that permeates here has no real force. With songwriting duties split between primary songwriter James Baluyut and Patrick Ramos, it's hard to imagine why the album feels just so damn bleak. Certainly the trio has been celebrating these past couple of years: Ramos had twins at the end of that year, Baluyut joined the fatherhood club last year, and drummer Chris Deaner filled in as Kelly Clarkson's drummer on her tour. But I'm guessing the recent procreation explains the unyielding, more "mature" hush that pervades the album.
Opener "Tired Eyes" starts the album off well enough. It begins with a dreamy vibraphone, then bursts and abruptly takes off before working its way back into its tinkling intro. The jolt is a neat trick, particularly if the listener has turned up the song because she couldn't hear it too well, but the subsequent build and retreat gets boring fast and slips into the background. "Snowblind", the album's first single, has a thin intro that builds and wanes, giving way to "Subdued"'s flimsy falsetto one-word chorus, which warm guitar strums and some confident drums carry and save. These decent spots come early, and then the album starts to putter halfway through, until "Marina" invites back the pedal steel for some welcomed variation. The bouncy title track ends the album with what sounds like a Death Cab-circa-Something About Airplanes B-side.
There's nothing startling about Eyes, no loving slap of surprise. It might be a lot to ask of an electro-acoustic pop band, but after Fire, I expected their streamlined velocity to make their follow-up fun. +/- fans may very well adore the ebbs, wanes, and occasional flatlines, but from a band ensconced in the Google unsearchable elite, I demand more whimsical mischief.
