***; SEBADOH, “Bakesale” ( Sub Pop )Sebadoh’s...
***; SEBADOH, “Bakesale” ( Sub Pop )
Sebadoh’s past seven albums and countless obscure singles and EPs have established the Amherst, Mass., trio as indie-rock sweethearts, charming fans with bittersweet, emotional, easygoing tunes. On “Bakesale,” the band (which plays the Roxy on Oct. 7) again delivers great pop songs inside rough and messy packaging.
The band members trade off instruments, songwriting duties and vocals as usual, with founder Lou Barlow (former bassist of Dinosaur Jr.) and Jason Lowenstein doing the main body of work.
The album isn’t as immediately charismatic as last year’s “Bubble and Scrape,” but it soon warms into a catchy collection of mouthwatering melody, woolly guitar reverb and stripped-down vocals.
Regardless of who’s singing, words are important to Sebadoh, so you can hear almost every one. Most songs seem to be about broken love, but that may be because Sebadoh just seem like the kind of nice guys who’d get kicked around.
New albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent).
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