4 out of 5

Label: Partisan Records

Produced by: Tony Lash

From Pseudosix to the first Ages album, Tim Perry sorta did this one particular thing – this moody folk thing, with sad harmonies – that, uh, never failed.  I mean, the first Ages album is almost all that, and it just keeps working.  In between, you might get some folk dabblings, but these are just moments to pause before someone kicks a bass drum really hard and a simple, head-bobby guitar strum underlines some gloriously heart-swoony singin’.  When the first single from Divisionary – the title track – dropped, it was more of that same unfailing thing.  Which was fine by me, of course.  The disc arrived, I eagerly popped it in the ol’ player and pushed play, and ‘Light Goes Out’ starts with some harmonies and a bass drum…  …and then about halfway through, it very literally stops, and switches to a much different, poppier vibe.  The album repeats this type of split a few more times.  ‘Divisionary’ indeed, womp.  Elsewhere, Perry would seem to be hoping to break his expected trend, dipping into Beatles-y tried and true pop on ‘I See More,’ some upbeat guitar slingin’ on ‘No Pressure,’ or the very Shins-y ooh-ooh opening of ‘Calamity is Overrated.’  The album is short, and pleasant, and so it would pass by somewhat unnoticeably until those traditional moody harmony moments, and, of course, that epic single.  Swayed by those moments (AND THAT SINGLE), I was all set to 5 star this mother.  But I didn’t feel I could speak effectively to that rating, cueing a need to put it on repeat.

With more focus, I felt like I was hearing a really average pop album, with the bits I had glommed to previously sticking out like sore thumbs and not properly integrated into the mix…

Which would be true, I guess, except for how much these songs got stuck in my head.  With Pseudo and the previous Ages disc, I’d hum themes, or there are forever one or two tracks to which I return.  But with ‘Divisionary,’ though I still think the parts where we cut to what we know – the glorious latter half of ‘No Pressure,’ ‘Our Demons’ – are golden, the rest of the album apparently barrels through my ‘don’t you change, Tim Perry’ prejudice.  The rather upbeat mood (which was always Perry’s goal with Ages, but didn’t come across so much on ‘Alright You Restless’) sorta dispels the mystery of the lyrics, and thus the Dave Matthews-fan-friendly opening of something like ‘Big Idea’ comes across as a bit too simplistic.  Until, you know, those handclaps and fuckin’ harmonies start up.

So while the attempt to shake things up prevents the disc from having the High Highs of previous releases, ‘Divisionary’ is, on the whole, the most comprehensive release from Tim and pals yet.