4 out of 5

Label: Jagjaguwar

Producer: Brian Deck

You warm to it.

It sounds like I had something going in my favor when queuing up ‘City Life’ – that I hadn’t listened to Manishevitz before.  This particular disc jumps right onto the Brit-soul-pop love that happened with groups like Razorlight in the early / mid 00s, but we’re not on a major so we don’t have to deal with singles material, and Manishevitz can go full blown Eno / T-Rex glam with the thing, grabbing bits from other genres of the era, such as a genuine flute and guitar jam on penultimate track ‘Rainy Day Revolution’.  But prior to ‘Life,’ the group was apparently more of the pretty pop indie crowd, grabbing some positive attention but then disappearing for a few years before re-emerging with their love for the 70s on full display.  But to the group’s benefit – it feels and sounds real; it’s not a gimmick.  This is assuredly helped by Adam Busch’s forefront vocals, which are sort of a Ric Ocasek funky slur, always confident and clipped but never spotlight grabbing, which is where Brian Deck’s embracing production comes into play, smoothing out so many great elements – the precise and yet grooving drum fills, the warm, sprinkling guitar, and then some funky hornlines toot-tooting in the background, a nice backbone to the sound.

It’s a little off-putting at first, because of how obvious the influence is, but given the chance you realize it’s not a forced swagger you’re hearing but a love and appreciation for a sound.  And then once you’re there, there is, admittedly, a bit of a disconnect – the music is ultimately enjoyable but stops short of really affecting you any which way.  Which might be sort of the point, just to drum up a fun sound.  And great pop tracks like ‘Mary Ann’, with its toe-tapping horns and sing-along chorus, are exactly that.  Which beats the socks off of 15-minutes-o-fame singles acts.