Bishop Allen – Grrr…

How does a pop band such as Brooklyn’s Bishop Allen tackle the daunting challenge of topping an album as good as 2007’s The Broken String? Well, you know the old saying”¦ “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. With their new, quite animal-centric, release Grrr”¦, Bishop Allen are back with catchy tunes, hooks galore, and a more polished sound than their past releases.Opener ‘Dimmer’, with its staccato guitar, bouncy rhythms and Justin Rice’s bordering-on-tenuous vocals is signature Bishop Allen sound. Much of the rest of the album is, instrumentally, more stripped back than The Broken String, and percussion takes the forefront - expect lots and lots of xylophones. Songs like ‘The Ancient Commonsense of Things’ will be running through your head when you awake in the morning; ‘True Or False’, the obligatory Darby Nowatka-fronted track, features a lovely horn section on the chorus. Unfortunately Grrr”¦, although clever enough, doesn’t quite live up to the lyrical standards of Bishop Allen’s previous albums. However, I do enjoy the ironic nature of ‘Rooftop Brawl’ in which a rather graphic suicide (attempt?) is set to upbeat and bouncy guitar riffs.There are a couple of missteps, and it‘s a shame that they conclude the album. ‘The Magpie’ is a bit of a clunker, but at least it’s a mere minute and 45 seconds. ‘Tiger, Tiger’ - while a nice song - is an ambiguous ending to the album. I can’t help but think that Grrr”¦ would have been well served to have ended at the 11-track mark. The band has had some commercial success since their latest release with songs featured both on a Sony camera commercial and the film Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist. There is no doubt that Bishop Allen are sticking with what works, and why shouldn‘t they? Although they have come under fire from some critics for going down the safe path, with Grrr”¦ they’ve proven they’re still quite adept at crafting highly likable three minute pop songs. 74%Bishop Allen on MySpace