4 out of 5

Label: Sub Pop

Produced by: Ben Vehorn

A sequence of mini epics, the plaintive naming of LaL’s fifth album – as Laughter’s Fifth – is a fitting demarcation of a band emerging into the world with earned confidence.  Transformed from a restless DIY band into raw rock champions, Sam Jayne – LaL’s driving force – moved to NY, absorbed years of CBGB’s culture and juiced it with the stirrings of the changing culture of social media and digital music and emerged as the crooked smile, notebook scribblings of this fifth release.  The riffs are loose and awesome and without braggadocio, falling naturally into the most catchy of choruses and off-handedly genius observations.

The pop musings of Dirty Lives and Canal Street seem to perfectly capture the age divides of this music driven lifestyle, both backed up by head bobbing tunes and half-bemused, half-appreciative lyrics.  Elsewhere, Jayne floats through culture, watching from the outside – I’m A Ghost – or growing within it, between the cracks, as fittingly espoused on opening track In Amber, which questions How Ya Like Me Now, emerged from the past into this strange present.

Late in the album, LaL struggles with how to end their tales of life and living: with the cold, tech-tinged beat of Pulsar Radio?  The strange and sweet love-lost kazoo serenade of Corona Extra?  Or the poetic, Pavement-y closer Makeshift Heart?  And unfortunately, it’s an attempt too many, making these three tracks feel like tacked on singles, even though excellent songs in and of themselves.

But it’s a minor nit to consider amongst one of the best pop rock albums of the past decade, a crystalline capture of indie music on the cusp of crossover frenzy; NY spirit prior to social-media-of-the-minute flash in the pans.  But it’s equally an enduring sound, imbued with – and gospelizing – the timelessness of good, impassioned tunes.