Evolution, change and maturation. Three stages every band must go through. These words come up in talking about almost every new release by a returning artist. It’s inevitable and can cause great praise or fiery anger.
The tracks on latest effort Ganging Up on the Sun see Guster through all three stages within one album. Gone is the acoustic guitar- and bongo- driven college rock trio of old. Ganging Up is a significant album nonetheless because it marks the band’s first significant personnel change in its near 15-year existence. Multi-instrumentalist Joe Pisapia joins Guster founders Ryan Miller, Adam Gardner and Brian Rosenworcel as a permanent member of the band.
Guster started at Tufts University, gaining a grassroots following as one of the first bands to employ the roots rock sound that define bands such as Dispatch and O.A.R. What started as just two acoustic guitars, bongos and vocal harmonies has now evolved into a full-fledged rock band – albeit more pop and less rock.
2003’s Keep it Together showed some hints of these changes. The album had songs featuring full-on drum kits and a more electric sound. Bongos and straight-ahead acoustic guitars are still present on Ganging Up, but instead of being the main focus they tend to stay in the background and add to the layers of instruments. More prominent are a full drum kit, electric-tinged guitars, harmonica and keyboards. Ganging Up‘s 12 tracks make a better fit for the likes of the Garden State soundtrack than a frat party.
“Lightning Rod,” the album’s opening track, is a brooding song led by a simple finger-picked guitar section. Miller lends his dark vocals over a subtle touch of the sweet bongo sound that made the band unique. The album picks up with “Satellite,” an upbeat love song.
The band is certainly experimenting and taking more risks on this album. For example, Ganging Up has thrown alternative-country into the mix with the twangy track “The Captain.”
For a band such as Guster, songs such as “New Underground” and “The Beginning of the End” (the album’s second-to-last track, perhaps with intended humorous placement), rock in a literal sense – with fast-paced guitars, drums and vocals.
Guster also plays around with arrangement on “Ruby Falls,” the album’s epic at seven minutes in length with intricate musical sections and vocal harmonies.
Ganging Up is a good pop rock record that fits in nicely with bands such as The Shins and Coldplay. They’re not breaking new ground, but they are evolving, changing and maturing in the music world.
Will we see a Guster track hit the mainstream airwaves? Perhaps. Sometimes all a band needs is to play with a different kind of fire.
– By Rudi Greenberg
