Album Review: Gomez's A New Tide

As is the Gomez custom, many of these songs start out airily, with a few verses delivered over lilting acoustic guitar arpeggios, which then give way to more energetic and dense segments. While the band arguably overuses the technique, it consistently works. On some songs better than others: "Win Park Slope" begins with an ominous, bluesy slide guitar slithering around a low cello part; at about the halfway point the drums kick in harder, the vocals thicken and the whole thing builds to a luscious crescendo.

If anything, A New Tide suffers a bit from a lack of true rocking segments, but that also leaves room for some fetching sonic detail: hard-plucked standup bass; a mandolin standing in for acoustic guitar; raiding Brian Wilson's junk drawer and including the deep wheeze of a bass harmonica.

In the final analysis, A New Tide is a merely good album by a really good band. You could do far, far worse than that. (ATO)