Trashcan Sinatras, "Morning Star" (2009)

pre-order the CD from trashcansinatras.com (out in US in Fall 2009)

When the Trashcan Sinatras first showed up almost 20 (!) years ago, they would never exactly be the kind of band that you'd call frantic or thunderous, but with the intervening years and their return records of the 2000's, their indiepop can veer dangerously close to indie adult contemporary.

But just because their tempos have slowed as their hair has grayed, their knack for nailing a killer melody hasn't faded at all, and "Morning Star" (which is not, as far as I can tell, about garden burgers) is as luxuriously beautiful as anything in their catalog, even if it doesn't have the kick of Cake or the lush experimentation of the underrrated A Happy Pocket.

As a footnote, TCS's show at the Rock and Roll Hotel last week was fantastic, though I don't understand why they've completely disowned Cake. It's not as though it's some radically different music style. Depeche Mode and The Cure don't have any problem with throwing in the crowd-pleasing hits, but just because TCS don't play arenas doesn't mean we wouldn't be thrilled speechless if they gave us "Obscurity Knocks".