THE SADIES

New Seasons

(YEP ROC)
www.yeproc.com

Here come those sweet stoners, the Good boys, again. Great musicians schooled out on the road; Travis with his dad in The Good Brothers and Dallas in assorted punk bands. Their live shows are a marvel; around 45 songs in an hour and a half and then back for 10 song encores featuring breakdowns, surf instrumentals, folk-rock, and cool covers.

This is their third album for Yep Roc following on from Stories Often Told and Favourite Colours. Both of those records hit the spot, embracing a Byrds-like, pantheistic psychedelia that flew off in many directions. New Seasons follows the same pattern, keeps Rick White as a co-writer, brings in Gary Louris as co-producer, and the extended family help out. It’s their glory and it’s the rub.

Sadly the law of diminishing returns seems to be kicking in. Where Stories captivated with its novelty there’s now a sense of being on familiar territory. While the playing is virtuoso, and songs like ‘Anna Leigh’ and ‘The Land Between’ genuinely affecting, you begin to feel they could make records like this for the rest of their lives without stretching themselves. For some that might be enough, but with these boys it would be a sin.