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Heaven
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Heaven
Current price: $25.99
Barnes and Noble
Heaven
Current price: $25.99
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Happiness writes white, the maxim goes. Similarly, it's just as difficult to write songs about contentment that aren't boring, or worse, smug. However,
manage to pull this off on
, which they recorded during the celebration of the band's tenth anniversary. Just how far the band has come since the
days is reinforced throughout the album, from the pictures of the bandmembers with their families to
's clean but unobtrusive production. This feeling of homecoming is all the more striking compared to
's previous album, the woozy travelogue
. Though that album's brightest moments hinted at the happier version of the band that
presents, it's still somewhat startling to hear
and crew sound so settled on these songs. "Love Is Luck" and "Leigh's Song" sound bathed in sunshine, even more so than
did on
. Where they used to be searching, they now offer sage advice;
repeats "Love will decide" like a mantra on "The Witch," one of many songs taking the band's quintessentially philosophical nature in a more mature direction. And where their rockers used to rage, they now burst with exuberance; the album's title track plays like a happier version of
' "The Rat," with
sounding like he's ready to beat down the door to share some good news instead of to finish an argument. However,
's version of
isn't all harps and halos; an undercurrent of regret, even apology, is often palpable, particularly on the album's many quiet, ruminative tracks such as "Line by Line" and "Dreamboat," which makes
's last word one of yearning more typical for the band. That many of these more hushed songs are grouped together in the album's middle lends a somewhat uneven feel that is especially jarring when the band returns to poppier territory. But even if it's not the band's most cohesive work,
comes across as a more or less triumphant culmination of
's first decade, and the fact that happiness fits the band better than anyone could have expected is just a welcome bonus. ~ Heather Phares