Music fans know the phrase "indefinite hiatus" as one filled with foreboding-- it's so often meant as a substitute for "done for" that's practically viewed as a euphemism. When Mother Hips began their indefinite break after crowning their career with 2001's excellent The Green Hills of Earth LP, it seemed logical that they might be hanging it up for good. They'd just dropped their best record, and the idea of going out on top has at least some appeal to most people. Well, it turns out they weren't done after all, and on the evidence of Kiss the Crystal Flake, it's a welcome return.
This, their sixth LP, follows on the heels of last year's promising Red Tandy EP and doesn't skip a beat getting back to the band's rootsy mix of 70s rock and power pop. Songwriters Tim Bluhm and Greg Loiacono split the duties slightly in favor of Bluhm, which means the album as a whole is tilted just a bit more toward the power pop side. The sound is about as bread-and-butter rock'n'roll as you can get, mostly limited to the four band members with the occasional keyboard embellishment or trumpet.
Both songwriters sound recharged, and the band, with new bass player Paul Hoaglin, seems glad to be back at it, taking time to jam a bit and let the guitars loose on a few songs, but always bringing it back to tight, melodic songcraft before things get out of hand. If anything, it reminds me of the direction Sloan has gone-- using their muscle to reinforce their popcraft and not as an end in itself. Loiacono's slowly churning, Tom Petty-influenced "Confirmation of Love" is a good example, using the hard downward strumming of the chorus as a mere table-setting for the really big hook, one powerfully delivered "she went down to California," that plays off all the charged meaning the name of that state has acquired in the American subconscious.
Bluhm chips in a couple of quality slow songs himself. "Let Somebody" makes great use of the blend of Bluhm's smooth voice and Loiacono's rougher tone on the chorus harmonies, while "Not So Independent" fakes you out with a stomping guitar intro before settling back into a recollection of a fireworks display at a beach party. On the higher tempo tip, "Time We Had" is one of the best pop songs in the band's catalog, with great doubled vocals from Bluhm and a brief guitar solo that sneaks in a new hook at the end. Loiacono's "No-Name Darrell" is stuffed with Beatles chord progressions and accomplished falsetto vocals, but shies away from a typical song structure, instead moving through multiple ideas as they arise.
I can't imagine anyone who followed Mother Hips in their initial run being unhappy with this, and people who came on board at the end for Green Hills will find the same forces that made that record so broadly appealing at work here. Kiss the Crystal Flake is the sound of a refreshed band making as solid an album as they ever have.
