Rating: NNN
The brothers Kadane (Matt and Bubba) got flak for ending 90s gaze favourites Bedhead only to start fresh with the New Year, a group that sounds, by most accounts, exactly like Bedhead. Like a bad joke about resolutions, the New Year didn’t change at all on their Newness Ends debut and furthered their guitar-trio patterns on 04s The End Is Near.
Once again Steve Albini-produced, their third effort doesn’t stray wildly from Matt’s laid-back vocals and the intertwining melodic guitar parts they’re now known for, but there is at least one effort to evolve. The piano has a noticeable presence on the disc’s back end, especially on Body And Soul and My Neighborhood. It works tremendously well with their sound makes you wonder why it took six albums before they tried it.
The New Year hit Lee’s Palace Wednesday (October 15).
