Goodbye Sunshine, Hello Nighttime

構成数 : 1枚
合計収録時間 : 00:45:33
Audio Mixer: Greg Wells . Recording information: Rocket Carousel Studio, Los Angeles, CA. Photographer: Dominoe Farris. The Los Angeles-based indie folk-pop quartet's third full-length effort, Goodbye Sunshine, Hello Nighttime arrives after a three-year period of personal upheaval that saw the passing of co-founders Joe and Sebastian Keefe's mother and a breakdown in communication between the group members. Luckily, Family of the Year were able to spin that tumult into another fine collection of hazy aural gold, delivering a sweet, sad, and largely effortless-sounding 12-song set that caters to their collective talent for pure pop craftsmanship. The title is taken from the coda of opener "Let Her Go," a heartfelt lament that's as warm as it is mired in grief, and is one of several cuts that rely on the quartet's sugary harmonies and predilection toward late-afternoon, '70s-inspired midtempo musing -- a pair of stripped-down mid-LP meditations, "Numb" and "Two Kids," are among the most vulnerable songs that the band has produced to date. The light synth-funk of the Foster the People-esque "Hold Me Down" offers up a nice counterpoint, as does the sweeping, Brit-poppy "The Coast," both of which see the group pushing into less familiar, though still decidedly retro, sonic realms. Even at their most distraught -- the aptly named "Bitter Mind," the elegiac "Where Was I" -- Family of the Year manage to convey a sort of washed-out amiability that pairs well with their ardor for Pacific Coast balladry -- they're not quite the Eagles, but they know that achieving a "Peaceful Easy Feeling" is the end goal. Goodbye Sunshine, Hello Nighttime works because it feels both immaculate and homespun. It's soft rock in a hard place, and very human in its need to be simultaneously entertaining and therapeutic. ~ James Christopher Monger