Like many bands saddled with a novelty tag, maturity was never going to be easy for
Barenaked Ladies
, but their problems were compounded by the 2009 departure of
Steven Page
, one of the band's two main songwriters. The other,
Ed Robertson
, is the undisputed leader as of 2010's
All in Good Time
, but used to constant collaboration, he shares the spotlight with keyboardist
Kevin Hearn
and bassist
Jim Creeggan
, who combined sing five of the 14 songs here. It's not so much that
Robertson
is reluctant to seize control but rather that democracy is deeply ingrained in
BNL
's DNA, so much so that they couldn't use the departure of a co-founder as an excuse to restructure their workflow chart. What they could do -- and did indeed wind up doing -- is use
Page
's departure as a way to ease away from cutesy jokes and toward a candy-coated maturity, one that's all about shimmering surface instead of singalong chants. Sometimes the band still kicks up a little bit of a rhythm or snark -- the former in the diluted
Foo Fighters
homage
"How Long,"
the latter in some not-so-veiled jabs at
and the shambling country-rock deconstruction of
"Jerome"
-- but
glides gently, offering well-tailored lifestyle music for settled Gen-Xers. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine