5 out of 5

Label: Polyvinyl

Producer: Neil Strauch (recorded by)

Okay, so maybe I tend to like it when JOA is rockin’ out.  Meaningful Work was the intro to the stripped down Joan of Arc that would produce the album “Life Like.”  There are no rotating guest musicians, the compositions aren’t precious or wandering – they don’t quite rock out, per se, but the influence of an ex-Ghosts and Vodka guitarist (Victor Villarreal) is totally apparent as the guitar riffs are given that particular sixgunlover Texan warm, angular feel, while still mixed with the ponderous scaling chord progression that’s common to JOA songs.  Kinsella’s lyrics have continued to evolve – he’s always floated along a surreal / silly line, edging into too serious or too weird at times (which can be said to be part of the band’s sound, however), but there’s something about this boiled down mix that seems to have reignited some passion and kicked the group out of the pretty and poetic flow of “Boo! Human”.  Repeated choruses that actually bear weight, with the rest of the words slung about touching on commercialism and consumption in a way that feels personal and not preachy, and thus… more accessible.  The A Side is sort of in the Flowers vein of continually shuffling and on the move, while the B Side – The Thing in Things has some great pounding drums to underline the stop-start guitar work.  And both sides being around 4-5 minutes, you get your money’s worth for runtime.

Just a taste (a pretty perfect taste) of how a band can forever evolve into still recognizable and yet different versions of its core.