Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Well Wishers - Comes and Goes (2016) - A brief overview.

I'd be flatly deceiving if I were to inform you that Well Wishers henchman, Jeff Shelton had something on his agenda other than power pop, so deceive you I shan't.  While he doesn't futz with his linear recipe too much on WW's eighth outing, Comes and Goes, there are moderate tangents at play here, operating in a framework just malleable enough to keep things interesting.  A pair of true blue keepers bookend the album, "Impossible to Blame" and "Nature's Son," neither of which will allay the bevy of Posies comparisons that have been leveled at Shelton.  As I've recently noted, The Posies aren't sounding much like themselves these days, so dare I say these riff-addled pearls serve as inadvertent equalizers?

As for what falls between the two "bookends," Comes and Goes rewards sublimely with the resonant, harmonic sway of "Comes Around" (featuring Lisa Mychols on backing vox) and Shelton's patented, plaintive jangly persuasion imbuing "Tomorrow," and "In Love With."  The album isn't without it's rawer flirtations with tension and cynical frustration, as only a forty-something could engender, on the crankin' ''Somebody Lied" and "Three Nights in Bristol."  Par for the course with any Well Wishers album, Comes... conversely counters said moments of constructive angst with sobering comedowns, specifically in the guise of "Nobody's Dancing Alone" and the aforementioned "Comes Around."  

Have and hold Comes and Goes for yourself today through CD Baby, Bandcamp, iTunes, Amazon, or purchase a hard copy straight from the band, with a bonus CD of your choice no less...for a limited time.

2 comments:

DiscConnected said...

Went and checked out some samples as I have not heard of these guys, and liked them enough to order the CD from BandCamp. Their back catalog gives me something to look for in the stores. Thanks for this one!

Theabs06 said...

I have this already, excellent album from Jeff Shelton, as always!