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Guster - Ganging Up On The Sun

Released on Reprise Records 06/20/06

by VinCi Chan on Jul 27, 2006
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Boston pop-meisters, Guster, chalk up yet another emotionally rich landscape of catchy, unfussy numbers with their fifth release, Ganging Up On The Sun. Showcasing their craftiness on the overly traveled pop-highway, this is clearly their most ambitious and effective effort to date.

Instead of getting lost in the atypical production one may expect with alternative-power-pop, their unsuspecting gentle sound washes you into a lagoon of depths with guitars that thrum harder, and rhythms that brace up the polished, sweeter-swirl then that of their earlier works. Ganging Up On The Sun formally inducts a fourth member to the group, co-producer, a multi-instrumentalist, Joe Pisapia, resulting in an expanded, preponderant pallette of warm sound.

Guster explores a few musical styles in the likes of the Beatles spanning from the obvious country speckled, “The Captain”, and a smart but simple melancholia in “Empire State” along with a quiet strum-out to “Satellite”. Then there’s one that incorporates the afforded length for a song filled with sonic tension and that would be “Ruby Falls”.

Harmoniously incorporated into their original acoustic spine, mellifluous Hammond organs, dulcet horns and jaunty pianos percolate a tender brew of this self-contained collection. If you’re looking for something sweet and toothsomely mellow on your hi-fi, Ganging Up On The Sun may ear-hug you just right.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars



by VinCi Chan on Jul 27, 2006
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