Golden Birthday

***GOLDEN BIRTHDAY return with their third studio album after 2008’s Infinite Leagues and 2011’s Illusions. On this record, entitled Blue Island, the band takes us in a more relaxed and contemplative direction than in the past. Don’t get us wrong—there are still minimal pop hooks aplenty—but there’s a veil of calm melancholia surrounding Blue Island that makes the record their most intriguing and sophisticated work to date. Synthesizers and sequencers still play an integral role in the group’s sound; but the New Wave overtones present in some of their earlier work do not play as heavily in the eight tracks on this record. Of course, each of the songs on Blue Island is very much its own animal; but the record as a whole incorporates more jangly-guitar college rock and kiwi-pop vibes, which provide a rickety-melodic backbone for the ethereal and at times krauty soundscapes that accent frontman RYAN SULLIVAN’s lyrics. The band’s exploration of different sonic territory can in part be attributed to changes in the lineup. Golden Birthday has had a rotating roster since the start, featuring some of the Chicago experimental rock scene’s finest; but the current lineup has definitely hit its stride. Assembled by Sullivan over the past few years, the group currently consists of ERIC LEE GALE (SICH MANG) on electronics/percussion, MATTHEW KENNEDY on guitar; and TIM KAISER playing bass.