Volume 1 [LP]

The idea of the supergroup is as old and tired as the history of rock & roll itself. From the to , and on and on, the gathering of a few vaunted musicians is usually trumpeted as nothing short of a revelation. Hence the name "super" itself. Usually, it ends up being just a half-baked excuse to hang out and jam -- very rarely does anything much good come from these projects. That makes an enjoyable aberration, and their album from 2017 is a snapshot of late-decade indie pop and rock at its best. 's is the ringleader; the rest of forms the backbone and a cast of big-shot vocalists deliver the lyrical and melodic goods. , ' of , and frontman join by contributing two songs apiece, and each of them bring their A game. It's tempting to take each writer's contributions and pit them against each other's to see who did what best, but really, what's nice about the album is how well the tracks all fit together, even though they all have intrinsic differences. Part of this is down to having the guys as the backing band on each song, the rest is down to 's skills as a ringleader. It sounds like the work of one band with five singers, even when the tracks are as different as 's stomping glam rock opener "Restart," ' evil-sounding ballad "Hey Banana," or 's rambling '70s rock jam "Tara." layers in loads of strings and horns throughout the record, giving it a widescreen, epic feel at times while still letting the singers' idiosyncrasies come through clearly. Some tracks are pure soft rock gold, like 's "Unlikely Force," some are orchestral ballads, like 's "Failing at Feeling," and there's even a track that sounds like a loose and limber ' track, 's "Real Love." It's a remarkably coherent and listenable album that goes down very smooth, but not without the occasional moment of real emotion or foot-tapping fun. Credit for making this group truly super and the album one of the best "super" group efforts imaginable. ~ Tim Sendra