#1052 The Blank Tapes - Vacation

Things start off promisingly enough - Uh-Oh's a bright, funky little opener, but then the album unfolds to reveal a band short on ideas trying to make a diverse album. The route to diverse involves some trite ideas ("Double Rainbow", a song about "a ringing in my ear" called Earring), some thin concepts (general plumbing of Oh No, Oh My! reediness, limp riffing on Tropicalia via Beck on Brazilia), and plenty of songs that show their hand in the first 8 bars and then have nowhere much to go, but keep going for 3 and a half minutes because, songs. And do I count 3 songs that mention rainbows on the first side alone? Ok, ok! Very sunny! But it's all Island in the Sun, a lukewarm drive past scenery painted on a backdrop downtown 2.5/5