CD Review

No doubt the Fruit Bats have had to endure endless comparisons to their label and sometime tour mates the Shins. But with their second Sub Pop release, Spelled in Bones, the Fruit Bats challenge listeners to set aside those comparisons and to judge them on their own really, really catchy merits.

Spelled in Bones is a big, warm hug of ’70s-pop nostalgia. Front man Eric Johnson’s lyrics and instrumentation carry a weight that’s introspective and wide open all at once. The album borders on melancholy, but also holds a few bright moments of hopefulness.

“Lives of Crime” is a perfect opener, happy and light with gently chugging guitars, crisp harmonies, handclaps – and who can deny a song that slips in a few handclaps? Even better is “Earthquake of ’73,” where Johnson sings sweetly over acoustic guitar and plinking piano, So I’ll do my part, not to break your heart/And baby don’t break mine/Because I adore you/And I know for sure you’re the spark on the sun.

Other highlights include “Legs of Bees” where Johnson sounds a little like the New Pornographers’ and Destroyer’s Dan Bejar, but with a bit more of a raw edge to his voice, and “Born in the ’70s,” which brings a mood-elevating falsetto and more handclaps to the mix. The album closer, “Every Day That We Wake Up It’s a Beautiful Day,” is a beautiful, lilting waltz that expresses nothing more than the song’s title and then gives way to the sound early-morning birds.

It’s this simplicity that really puts this album above others that fall into the bands-who-love-Big Star camp. The Fruit Bats resist the temptation to go too big and too far with their guitars and harmonies. Sure, they might not be Teenage Fanclub, the heroes of countless indie-rock wannabes, but Spelled in Bones is better than anything that band has put out in years.