Despite taking more than 20 years off and re-forming as a trio without pivotal founding member and singer/guitarist/songwriter
Martin Carr, the second-act
Boo Radleys sound rejuvenated and more excitable than ever. Just a little over a year after their 2022 return,
Keep On with Falling, the new
Boos give the world their eighth album,
Eight, a collection of vibrant and playful tunes that blur the line between bright, friendly Britpop and gently psychedelic dream pop. At no point in their long and winding history did the band ever stick to a simple path, and the strongest songs on
Eight are those that shift gears frequently. "Seeker" tosses together grunge-lite distorted guitars and bubbly horn sections, occasionally detouring away from its steady groove into sunny vocal harmonies and brief moments of
Beatlesque psychedelia. "The Unconscious" also follows this busy template, using a faux-reggae foundation to build an intricately ornamented lounge pop arrangement. More than the shoegaze experimentation some of their early work is known for, there's a relaxed and carefree element present in songs like "Skeleton Woman" or the effervescent electronic touches of "Sorrow (I Just Want to Be Free)" that recalls the space age bachelor pad movement of the mid- to late '90s, which included artists like
Saint Etienne,
the Cardigans, and
Ivy. Even when tackling heavier subject matter like racism and violence on "Now That's What I Call Obscene," the band sound like they're having the time of their lives, with singer/guitarist
Simon "Sice" Rowbottom's voice shooting through the entire sonic picture with an exuberance borrowed from the most upbeat moments of
the Style Council. The band still rock out at times on
Eight, but instead of shoegaze thrashing, it takes the form of orchestral moodiness on "Swift's Requiem" and robotic synth pop on peppy album closer "How Was I To Know." The feedback squalls and backwards guitars on "Dust" are as close as this iteration of
the Boo Radleys get to traditional shoegaze, and even then, the blasts of guitar melt into baroque string parts.
Eight is energetic, inspired, and hits with one melodic hook after another, capturing the sound of a band overjoyed to be back and having the time of their lives. ~ Fred Thomas
