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A D V E R T I S E M E N T
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A D V E R T I S E M E N T
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The Rosebuds
Birds Make Good Neighbors\r\n(Merge Records)
By Caroline Collier
The honeymoon is over for The Rosebuds, North Carolinian spouses Ivan Howard and Kelly Crisp. Their second full-length, Birds Make Good Neighbors, retains a touch of the pop romanticism that permeated their first c.d. while acknowledging the dark undercurrent that flows beneath the reality of marriage.
Over a seemingly innocuous, simple musicscape of guitar and drums, the husband-and-wife team creates an ominous mood via haunting tremolo keyboard riffs and accents, and the couple’s sometimes ethereal, often eerie vocal harmonies. The album contains a lot of throwbacks to the age not too long ago when pop musos glorified love in song — there’s lots of oooh-ing, ahhh-ing, la-la-la’s, and plenty o’ hand claps on Birds. The record rides safely on the 4/4 train of good ol’ fashioned rock-based songcraft, with nary an outlandish finger movement or semi-adventurous instrumental solo to be found.
On previous efforts, Kelly let Ivan sing most of the songs — not so this time. The cooperation works splendidly, especially on “Leaves Do Fall,” a hot satellite radio single. The number opens with a snare drum pumping locomotive-style as Kelly decries marriage’s ability to transform doe-eyed innocence into the paralyzing realization that adult life is full of challenges. On songs in which he sings lead, Ivan is equally tormented by growing up — and older. “Tell me now how things used to be,” he yearns on “Boxcar,” a guitar-driven power ballad. “But I’m not crazy / I’m just a little boy.”
Don’t get the idea that the Howard-Crisp bliss is in trouble. Gentle affirmations of the bond abound, even if — as on “Wildcat,” a weeper a-swirl with feathery acoustic guitar, watery keyb’s, and soft vocals — the lovefest occasionally borders on the schmaltzy.
The Rosebuds’ album-length expression is solid if sometimes uneventful from start to finish. Their handiwork shares with a good marriage several winning virtues, including the skill and wherewithal to live up to a carefully wrought vision in which storybook romance is tempered by reality. So far, so good for The Rosebuds — they’ve managed to tour the country and play smoky clubs without killing each other.
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