#1066 The Beta Band - Heroes to Zeros

The Three EPs was a certified classic. The rest of the Beta Band's stuff less so, as they seemed to lose interest in stretching themselves, churning out formless, charmless churners. While it's not exactly a return to form, H2Z is the Betas' tightest album, and their most inventive since their debut. Within those tidy 3-and-change runtimes, the songs pack some minor hypnosis and invention, a slash of horns, a clatter of drums, a wash of organs, all atop brushed rock repetition that suggests long meanderers without actually doing anything superfluous. Beta Band condensed, this is their most readily listenable album 4/5