The melodies were left in the future??

There is something a little tepid about this new Built to Spill album. The review by aaronmagram explained pretty well why this album could be a dissapointment among the fans with higher expectations for the band, so I won't say too much...

Fun and Fan-friendly

Doug Martsch sounds like he's having fun these days.

Not perfect, but relatively speaking, a godsend.

The music is almost as melodic as ever, but I have to admit that melody tends to get lost to the listener because it fades intermittently in and out of a sound that's a bit denser and less immediately engaging than typical BtS. What I mean by "less engaging" is that music relies more on texture than hooks. This reliance on texture has always been a big part of BtS's sound, but never has it taken center stage as it does on YOU IN REVERSE. Replacing the expected hooks are a few of the most popular anti-pop keystones of the indie rock foundation: dissonance, tension, and noise. The shift towards these things and away from pop immediacy is undoubtedly a result of the "jam" nature of the album's development.