Compare From the Pasture to the Future

says that offer "a near-ideal balance of irreverence, chops, discipline, and originality," and that actually sums it up quite well. This primarily acoustic group is irreverent about genre boundaries, jumping gleefully back and forth between the lines that separate from , , and music from , but they're never so irreverent that they just sound goofy. Their chops are considerable, but (in the studio anyway) they never lapse into wanky self-indulgence. Their discipline and originality are manifest in tightly written, hook-filled songs and unusual arrangements, and all of those qualities come together beautifully in this, the group's fourth album. offers brilliant instrumental hot ( ), a sharply rocking kissoff song ( which features the timeless couplet "It's not that you're bad for me/It's just that you're bad"), and a very fine ). It also features a funny number titled and a beautiful Texas-style dance number called are not terribly convincing as purveyors of straight-up music, as demonstrates, but everything else works so well that you hardly even notice that one. Very highly recommended. ~ Rick Anderson