Mexican Summer
If you’re searching for proof that the garage-pop bubble has burst look no further than the new album from The Fresh & Onlys. What was once a rough and tumble band of lo-fi rock dudes has slowly morphed into a straight-laced and sophisticated rock unit and never have they sounded as slick as they do on Long Slow Dance .
Marking the San Franciscans’ followup to 2010’s Play It Strange and their fourth album overall Long Slow Dance trades their fuzzy reverb-drenched beginnings for a more mature adult-oriented sound embracing both the group’s inner pop sensibilities and their age.
About half the time this manifests itself as ’80s-tinted Paisley Underground-influenced pop rockers like “Foolish Person” “20 Days and 20 Nights” and “Fire Alarm” which sound more in line with poppy modern acts like Shout Out Louds and The Rosebuds than Thee Oh Sees and Ty Segall. Then in a very M. Ward-like fashion The Fresh & Onlys veer off into more folky adult-indie terrain such as on “Executioner’s Song” and “Wanna Do Right By You.”
These two sides of the new Fresh & Onlys do bring some variety to the album but they also find the band toning down the weird despite frontman Tim Cohen’s reputation as a songwriting eccentric and the album being produced by post-rock hero Phil Manley (Trans Am Oneida).
That said The Fresh & Onlys have been edging towards an album like Long Slow Dance for a while. But while you have to applaud a band for evolving their sound it all feels like too much too soon.