Gomez "How We Operate"
Monday, April 17, 2006
When Gomez released their first record in 1998, they were immediately crowned, completely unfairly to them, as the saviors of rock and roll in a post-OK Computer era when a lot of music fans were looking for something simple again. Bring it On and its even-better follow-up Liquid Skin were exactly that—bluesy, rootsy Ameri-British guitar pop that didn’t strive for any grand statementeering and completely succeeded on its own merits, independent of what the British press wanted it to be. Album three, though, was the dreaded “experimental” one, and the band’s experiements with Beta Band folk-hop and occasional excursions into dub were fine, but just not what it seemed like, for whatever reason, they should have been doing. Don’t quote me on that. The fourth album was largely a hangover from the third, but it was clear they were looking to return to what they do best. Which is what they’ve done on How We Operate, an unassuming breeze of simple sentiment and heartfelt singing that manages to feel really good, but without cowing to the jammy/hippie crowd that’s consistently tried to suck them up and use them as “outside” affirmation (ATO labelmates My Morning Jacket proved it possible last year). The title of Gomez’s new record gives all information needed relating to the subject matter of the songs themselves—human interaction and all of its associated unpredictability, leading to a lyric like “All these little deals go down with little consequences”, from title track “How We Operate” (mp3).
How We Operate comes out on ATO May 2. Pre-order it from Amazon here.
I was sir afraid to admit that I loved Gomez and have actually loved them from the beginning.. The fear of being rejected by an indie consensus was the strongest thing on my mind. I am now not afraid to say that I love and have always loved Gomez, partly because you sir apparently feel they have merit but mainly because I have conquered the indie consensus rejection paranoia thing…