The third studio album by Chicago's
Varsity
,
Fine Forever
slightly sharpens the focus on the group's amiable indie pop with help from producer
Ben Lumsdaine
(
Amy O
Major Murphy
). It's their first album of original material for
Run for Cover Records
. The band is wholly recognizable here, though, on an especially compassionate outing that was conceived as a series of modern-day vignettes by lead singer and songwriter
Stef Smith
. A onetime documentary filmmaker, she's always shown a narrative tendency in her lyrics, and she gets specific on the seven-minute "The Memphis Group," inspired by the '80s postmodern design movement of the same name. A song with bright arrangements that include a fat melodic-guitar tone, jangly strummed chords, and nasally '80s keyboard timbres, it's a mini epic structurally, with catchy riffs, start-and-stop syncopation, and sweet, winding vocal melodies. Together, those elements make the track entirely accessible, even during a murkier instrumental play-out involving saxophone, improvisation, and electronic noise. Essentially, hooks reign on the album. Another common trait of
is a perky disposition. This is true of the vibrant "Reason to Run" and its ascending bridge and chorus, although its story entails an escape and a name change. Like there, some of the record's more frustrated lyrics are softened by
Smith
's typically cheerful vocal delivery, though she's not without her wistful moments. The main takeaways from
, though, are catchy tunes of a nature fit for commuting, housework, and hikes and the sense of satisfaction derived from its persistent, light-handed humanity. ~ Marcy Donelson