This album starts up and I'm thinking, "C'mon, dude, Ben Chasny already did this and you can't do any better... Oh, wow... This is a pretty good imitation. Man, this is really good." I become alright with the idea of this being a blatant Organs rip-off when it's executed so well. But then the second track changes completely. Turns out that the second track is indicitive of the rest of the album and it's a pretty big jump. It sounds a lot different. It sounds like... Naw, I don't need to tell you that. Well... it sounds like Neil Diamond, OK?
Back off.
But don't let that put you off. Hell, maybe you even like ol' Mr. Diamond. The tone of the album is constant; not a whole lot of variety past the opening Chasny-worship and its later reprise in "Good To Be With You Again." You get almost an hour's worth of laid-back folkrock excellence and who could ask for more than that, right? Dan Schneider (who is the band) employs a single cheap trick: lots and lots of reverb. Sure, it's old and it's been done and you've heard it a thousand times. But it sure is hard to dock something that works so well. And the thing is, nothing here is new. Poptones could've easily passed this off on us as some unearthed gem from 40 years ago; in style and recording techniques, this album sounds that old.
It's so hard to write about this album. All I want to do is go stare at the lake at sunset while listening to it and laughing in slow-motion (lens smeared with Vaseline if any is available). The album's title is ridiculously hypocritical. This is a summer album through and through. It's completely unoriginal. But its somnolent haze is impossible to resist. Unless you're one of those jerks who hates certain artists based on principle. (Did I mention my List of Artists Who I Think Should Suck It Based On Principle?) Everyone is a hypocrite, so get over it, I guess.
