On Nice and Nicely Done, The Spinto Band's sixth album, the Delaware quartet once only known for longevity finally developed and honed a formula. The songs were shrunk and reduced to their melodic simplicity in an effort to highlight and emphasize the indie-pop core the band always knew they were capable of. And finally, after nearing a decade of grinding, it worked. The album was noticed, finally, and fans and acclaim followed. But The Spinto Band never foreshadowed what success engenders - that critical follow-up record. Usually it's a band's sophomore try, but with The Spinto Band, it's their seventh. And herein, right away, lies the frustration with this seventh try, a short and stumbling collection entitled Moonwink. The formula was so tight now that any variation of it, either structurally or instrumentally, is a departure from something that finally worked. And no one wanted that. As a result, Moonwink suffers from its opening chord, the average ‘Later On'. It's wound too tight, so much so its barely breathing as if the intricate indie-pop carefully crafted in previous efforts is now in a straightjacket, tied up so that it has no move any further. The core is there, but that's it. It's literally stuck.It moves along briskly from there, at times so fast it's forgettable. On Moonwink, the structure chose against the standard one or two second gap in between each song, resulting in a set of short, three minute bursts of indie-pop that seem to compete against each other for attention. Only a few tracks speak for themselves, and they are few and far between. A cordial, frolicking melody drapes over lead single ‘Summer Grof', lightly dusting the melody in honky-tonk piano and drips of whimsy and collegiate swagger, while ‘The Cat's Pajamas' mirrors its moniker, rolling through anachronistic guitar scorns that recall early greats like Dick Dale. But as quickly as a song begins to assert itself, it disappears under the weight and quickness of the rest. And at only thirty-two minutes long, rarely do those memorable moments that infested Nice and Nicely Done appear. Instead it's all a big wash. The formula is there. Moonwink does, in its core, emulate its past patriarch, but like a son trying his hardest to grow up like dad, it rarely thinks for itself, never pondering what it wants being too focused on pleasing tradition and the past.Regardless, those still stricken by the urgency Nice and Nicely Done elicited will find moments to love in Moonwink, but they may only be moments, flickers in what could have been a truly entrancing and enrapturing fire. Those looking for some advancement must look elsewhere. Possibly the back catalogue may engender surprises; too bad there are very few here. 45%The Spinto Band on MySpace