Loveshines But The Moon Is Shining Too

Synopsis

Bill Baird's evident love for the Beach Boys in mid- to late-'60s mode comes to the fore right at the start of Loveshines thanks to the echoed piano and soft harmonies of "Heavy Light," but in keeping with his approach in general it's less about re-creation than sometimes subtle variation -- if Brian Wilson could have thought up the general approach, the moodier singing and guitar parts might not have been fully to his taste. From there Baird and Sunset continue through another enjoyable album showing the Austin group playing through a baker's dozen songs, playing as ever with his evident delight in rich-sounding pop from both the '60s and '70s and, indirectly, from earlier times, in the same way that Mercury Rev's See You on the Other Side was at once a 1970s album, a 1990s album, and a 1930s album. While the extra orchestration is something that Sunset have worked with before plenty of times, it seems to be even more of a focus on Loveshines, with the more extreme or ragged edges of the band moving more toward Baird's solo work and other efforts. The blended singing on "Late Night Dawning" set against piano and strings, all heavily tinged with reverb and directly flowing into the lovely instrumental "Early Morning," and the cascading piano break on "The Past Won't Forget Me" -- a strangely appropriate title, in its own way -- are among the lovely highlights of the not-quite-the-present approach. But moments like the shimmering, distant guitar arc helping to close "Dusty Diamonds" show that it's not simply pining for something that never was so much as recombining to present something new within familiar realms. ~ Ned Raggett