<\/p>\n
Once & Future Band’s 2017 debut was a surprise prog-rock album from the year, an update of \u201870s prog-pop and \u201860s psychedelic pop that was a hit with critics, myself included. So perhaps it\u2019s no surprise that the Oakland trio has gone back to the same well for their sophomore disc, to less memorable results.<\/p>\n
The songs are a little less indebted to Queen and ELO this time; while there\u2019s still a strong mid-period Chicago sound (seriously, listen to \u201cSong Of The Evergreens,\u201d because these guys surely did) and some new smooth jazz influences, there\u2019s also a sense of the band coming into their own, sounding less like their influences. Unfortunately, this doesn\u2019t result in a strong set of songs, functioning instead as a win for sound and atmosphere.<\/p>\n
Five of the nine tracks are instrumental, including the interminable nine-minute closer \u201cThe End And The Beginning,\u201d and while they have some decent moments, they tend to meander around like jam sessions and then end without making an impact (\u201cAutomatic Air,\u201d \u201cSeveral Bullets In My Head,\u201d \u201cMr. G,\u201d which could all be the same song). The music is relatively upbeat and cheerful, sometimes venturing into old-timey pop smarts (\u201cAndromeda\u201d) and sometimes into wonky detours like the slightly-unhinged two-minute \u201cFreaks\u201d and the odd \u201cAirplane,\u201d which is fascinating in a deep-cut-Gentle-Giant sort of way but too weird and twee to recommend.<\/p>\n
The title track and \u201cProblem Addict\u201d are the best tracks, or at least the ones that make the most impact. And points for trying on the nine-minute \u201cThe End And The Beginning,\u201d which throws a lot of instrumental ideas at the wall but fails to tie them together into something coherent or memorable. Had some of the random jams been jettisoned in favor of the best parts (and the spooky piano intro), it would have worked a lot better.<\/p>\n
So where this ends up is a tentative, scattershot album with some cool sounds and a band still trying to find the songs to fit their unique voice. If you liked the debut then this will do fine, but unless you\u2019re a modern prog-pop aficionado or the Nuggets <\/i>box sets are your favorite albums of all time, there\u2019s not much to see here. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":34070,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[9933],"rating":[11204],"class_list":["post-45900","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-once-future-band","rating-rating-c-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/45900","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/45"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45900"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/45900\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=45900"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=45900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}