Here’s a nice song from Guster’s 2015 album Evermotion. Guster is a band that just doesn’t seem to record bad music, even if I don’t fall in love with everything they do.
When this track popped up as today’s Random iTunes Selection, I didn’t know it. I haven’t listened to Evermotion much and this is a deeper cut. But I knew it would be a perfectly enjoyable song, with pleasant vocals and an easy groove. Because that describes every Guster song.
Like yesterday’s featured artist, Josh Rouse, Guster is a moderately popular indie act that has quietly amassed an impressive discography. The band’s new album, Evermotion, is their seventh.
This record finds them a god distance, sonically, from their early work even as the songwriting sticks to the same tried and true folk pop formula. Guster’s calling card in the late 90s was acoustic guitars and stick-free percussion, a very lo-fi organic vibe. Evermotion, in contrast, is synth-heavy — almost distractingly so in some cases.
Guster is one of those bands that lives off of my radar until I hear one of their songs, and then I wonder why I don’t listen to them way more often than I do.
When the title ‘Red Oyster Cult’ first popped up as today’s Random Weekend selection, I had no idea what to expect. I’ve heard and enjoyed the album Keep it Together many times, but not closely enough to know the song titles.
Act one in last week’s concert was Guster, a band I’ve very much enjoyed over the years without becoming fanatical. They have a great sound and write very good songs but they sit in a tier somewhere below my favorite artists.
Perhaps because the first act in a three-band show gets the short end of the stick in terms of production values, I was a little underwhelmed with Guster’s show. Their studio albums have a sweetly off-kilter vibe that didn’t quite translate to the stage.
I started this non-theme week with a Ben Folds Five song and I’m finishing it with a tune by Guster. As it turns out, I’ll be seeing both of these bands in concert (along with the Barenaked Ladies) next month. So maybe this turned into half of an unofficial theme week after all.
I’m excited by idea of seeing Guster in concert. I don’t think their drummer plays exclusively with his hands anymore, but even absent that quirk, they have always struck me as a the sort of group that would dial things up creatively in a live performance.
Meet Me In Montauk 