In a storyline that\u2019s getting more and more familiar, the Redwalls recently completed the indie-to-major-and-back-to-indie trifecta feedback loop, traveling from Undertow Records to Capitol and, two albums later, back to indie Mad Dragon.<\/p>\n
That slightly bumpy ride has had little effect on this quartet\u2019s musical sensibilities, though.\u00a0 They remain proudly retro, so out of time and specific in their influences that at times it feels like they\u2019re auditioning for the leads in a heretofore unwritten Broadway musical about a fictitious mid-60s British Invasion group.\u00a0 Despite the band\u2019s youth and Midwestern roots — brothers Logan (vocals\/guitar) and Justin Baren (bass\/vocals), Andrew Langer (guitar\/vocals) and Ben Greeno (drums) are all from Still, it becomes apparent on their third disc that the boys have been through some changes.\u00a0 While their affection for classic sixties and seventies sounds is undimmed, this is a darker and moodier, more mature and less pop-centric Redwalls.\u00a0 <\/p>\n Oh sure, \u201cModern Diet\u201d is a monster of a single, hooky and melodic and full of Logan\u2019s patented Lennon-blues-shout vocals, but it also shows a snappy bit of edge as the band skewers targets right and left, including both its own retro stance (\u201cThey say it\u2019s all been done before \/ And there\u2019s really nothing new \/ Well that\u2019s just your point of view\u201d) and poseurs of all stations in life (\u201cSo how\u2019s your trust fund \/ You must be proud of all the work \/ Your father\u2019s done\u201d).<\/p>\n Strings swell pleasantly on the melancholy \u201cYou Can\u2019t Forget Yourself\u201d (trenchant following line\u00a0— \u201cshe\u2019s all you\u2019ve got\u201d) before giving way to the jittery guitar lines and propulsive rhythms of the Beatles-meet-Elvis (Costello, that is) number \u201cPut Us Down.\u201d\u00a0 Familiar territory, perhaps, but then things take a turn\u2026<\/p>\n On the swirling, pounding, urgent \u201cInto The Maelstrom,\u201d the Redwalls display a heretofore-unseen dark side that\u2019s at least as interesting as their ability to channel John and Paul at will. \u00a0Soon after, \u201cThey Are Among Us\u201d positively screams along, unleashing an almost punk energy behind a lyric that shows the boys haven\u2019t lost their sense of humor\u00a0— it\u2019s a spot-on satire of B-movie space invader flicks from the 50s and 60s.<\/p>\n It\u2019s ironic to have this album, a virtual declaration of artistic independence, come out at the same time that \u201cBuild A Bridge\u201d from 2005\u2019s De Nova<\/i> has just assumed a place in the nation\u2019s collective consciousness as the Verizon advertising jingle du jour — but that doesn\u2019t change the significance of the statement this album makes.\u00a0 The Redwalls<\/i> is the sound of a band coming into its own, taking its influences and figuring out how to make something truly fresh and new from their component parts.\u00a0 The best British Invasion band ever to come out of 21st century