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The news came as a hammer blow after album number three, 2010’s Serotonin, performed solidly but failed to build on the joyous plastic pop of Twenty One, sounding jaded in spite of a polished production job from Beatles/Roxy Music studio boffin Chris Thomas. Breaking with recent synth-pop form for a rock-oriented set recorded in Texas, then, Radlands sounds — on paper, at least — like one last roll of the dice from a band whose future seems increasingly up in the air.
Interesting, then, how lightly the band wears its troubles for the most part here — The Hale Bop’s country-shack disco shows off the band’s compulsive flair for melody in the best possible light, while You Had Me at Hello defies indie cred to pay deft homage to the Eagles. Mystery Jets are often at their best contemplating relationship politics — they’re basically the drunken scruffs that always seem to bumble their way into someone’s bed at parties in defiance of all odds — and Greatest Hits is no exception, being essentially a drawn-out argument with an ex about who gets what from the shared record collection. It will surely be allowed to stand as their best single since Two Doors Down, whatever its brazen cribbing from the Steve Miller Band (and brazen it is).
Sister Everett’s Hammond-drenched boogie sounds like an inspired mash-up between Honky Tonk Women and the band’s own Young Love. Someone Purer, meanwhile, is a rabble-rousing gem that would also sit proudly any future singles collection — destined to be the band’s only essential release, in the kindest possible way — but Lost in Austin’s crunchy epic labours the point somewhat. The band struggles to drum up the prerequisite gravitas for some of the slower material, although closer Luminescence does have a certain soul-baring charm (not to mention some alarmingly frank cocaine references).
While no longer the carefree creatures of their early records, Mystery Jets sound as bracingly hit-and-miss as they’ve ever done on Radlands, and for that much alone we can be thankful.
--Chris Bright
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Customer Reviews
And yes, the album is excellent. It strolls through the first few, ebbing and flowing from haunting love song to confident indie rock hit. The Ballad of Emmerson Lonestar is a touching moment early on, as is the title track. Serotonin, their most assured LP, had an air of claustrophobia about it, whereas Radlands knows what it is producing and what it is saying.
The album's centerpiece are the back-to-back Sister Everett and Lost In Austin. Both more rock numbers on the album, the touching choir on the end of the first leads well into the anthemic choruses on the second, and create a double-feature like a soundscape. Brilliant stuff. The closer, Luminescense, is a beautifully written track too, acoustic in form yet sometime sthe strongest numbers on this album are the stripped down ones. My one minor criticism of Radlands is sometimes it doesn't know how to end a track, yet repeating the bridge/solo part. This occurs on Someone Purer, Luminescence and Greatest Hits. This is fine when it works, but it drags out after a while on the album. This does not hinder what is a great 4th album from Mystery Jets, a grower for sure, and possibly their best yet.
Although there sound has diverted on this record! they have experimented with a kind of American 70's folk rock! Read more
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