Watered down Separation Sunday, that same twangy shout, those same cranky chords, that same swing at druggy narrative, story specifics, and sweeping half-rotten romanticism. God, there's even a song called Addicted Together that sounds like Hold Steady parody.
This comes up short on every count: Will Thomas is no Craig Finn, lacking that wry wit, that hitched nuance, that ability to change gears away from shouting, and shit, just Finn's straight up chops. The guitarwork lacks that offkilter energy, and none of the little observations land worth a damn.
Maybe its unfair to sum this up as "not as good as my 3rd favorite album of the last decade", but it hews desperately, unignorably close - there's no getting around it 2/5
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