Gomez – A New Tide
Album Reviews • Wednesday March 18th, 2009 • 2:24 pm
Gomez has always seemed wise beyond their years. Their debut album, Bring it On, received rave critical notices upon its 1998 release, not just for how great the music was, but for how incredibly advanced the band members all seemed; though the album was banged out in a garage by a bunch of upstart twentysomethings, it mixed a surprisingly assured musical sophistication with a set of influences—classic American country and blues, mostly—that really ought to have been decades outside of their grasp. And ever since then, the band has steadily been coming into its own with increasingly mature and complex albums, gradually softening their rough edges while deepening and enriching their sound.
2009’s A New Tide is the latest and purest distillation of that sound that Gomez has yet made—a record that could only have been made by an act that has spent more than a decade learning to play together on the road and honing their skills in the studio. Listening to this album directly after listening to Bring it On might be a jarring experience—there’s little of that bluesy immediacy and hard-rocking vigor left in Gomez circa 2009—but listening to all their albums in sequence shows their very natural, organic progression; very much of a piece with 2006’s How We Operate, A New Tide is the sound of a band that’s comfortable with itself, no longer feeling the need to prove anything but content to dig deep into their sound and bring outs its essence.
That Gomez has released their last couple of albums on Dave Matthews’ ATO imprint is somewhat fitting—like the Dave Matthews Band, Gomez is driven by tight group interplay and the chemistry between its musicians—but they’re far too subtle and sophisticated to fall into the jam band category, favoring layered arrangements over flashy instrumental solos. Their music has essentially become sleek modern pop, filled with sly hooks, studio sheen, and the tight, organic musicianship that the group has become known for.
A New Tide takes the group further into modern studiocraft than ever before; their acoustic instruments combine with synthetic beats and computerized effects to create rich tapestries of sound, with lingering hints of jazz and blues and guitar rock, but, more than anything, it feels like singer/songwriter pop, tight and melodic. It’s a grower of an album, because it’s mostly on the midtempo side and the arrangements, while colorful and deep, are very tasteful, so the album isn’t immediately grabbing. Upon repeated listens, though, it opens itself up to be a rich, streamlined piece of modern pop, with tightly-focused songs and beautifully slick production. Little details like a jazzy walking bass here, finger-popping percussion there, the way the three singers’ voices blend, the subtle computer effects—these emerge over time, and, the more one listens, the more the group’s careful craft and melodic gifts become apparent, and, ultimately, very impressive.
Some fans may miss the more rockist leanings of early, bluesy Gomez, and indeed, though modesty has always been one of their gifts, the more subdued sounds of A New Tide suggest that perhaps there is such a thing as being overly modest. That’s more of a quibble than anything, though, as this is a fine, rewarding album that finds a band sure of its footing but always marching forward.