Was I just in church or at a Beach Boy's concert? This is the question people will ask themselves after hearing Guster's new album, Easy Wonderful. This may sound intriguing, but in fact is a question raised by an album that is just too damn happy. Every one of the album's pop songs ooze love and happiness. It's nauseating. Guster loyals be warned: this album is sure to disappoint.
Since their 1991 start, Guster has always been on the poppier side of the rock ‘n' roll scene, but on Easy Wonderful, the playful band crosses the line. If an album leaves Guster faithfuls confused about whether they're listening to a Beach Boy's album or a Guster album, you know you've messed up somewhere.
""Do You Love Me"" is a great example of this problem. The song is an overly pop-influenced song with happy-go-lucky lyrics like, ""I wanna wake you from your dream / I wanna know just who you're talking to when your singing in your sleep.""
Easy Wonderful's fifth track continues on this. It even gets slightly religious at some points. Perhaps with a title like ""Stay With Me Jesus,"" this should be expected, but from Guster? It's certainly surprising. The song has a hymnal vibe, especially when the band starts belting out ""Hallelujah, Hallelujah."" This is not to say religious themes in music is always a bad thing, but if you know Guster, this is an unpleasant change of tone. When you expect to hear music from a band you know and love but then get something totally different, the change is difficult to handle.
Another track on the album is ""Bad Bad World."" With a title like that, one would think the song to be heartfelt and emotional, when in reality it is anything but. With cheesy and unoriginal lyrics like, ""There is love / There is peace in this world,"" the song (and the whole album) feels very superficial.
So, what happened to the old Guster that played real rock music, that came out with albums that exemplified their musicianship and their capability to write great lyrics? Easy Wonderful does periodically hint that they are still around. On ""Hercules,"" Guster finally demonstrates that they have a little gasoline left in the tanks. The song gives hope that Guster has not completely sold out to the pop-driven music industry. The lyric, ""Peel back my skin and make my ribs a xylophone,"" reminds us that Guster knows what kind of music they're best at. The only question is why they didn't allow it to make up the total album.
Prior to the track ""Do What You Want,"" the album was predominantly acoustic driven songs with some electric guitar and vocal alterations, but nothing too crazy. This provided a great cohesiveness. Out of nowhere, ""Do What You Want"" switches it up and resorts to synthesizers, distorted guitars and loud vocals. This jarring change of pace might seem unappetizing, but in reality, it may be the best song on the album. The problem is that it just doesn't fit in. Maybe if Guster had saved this song for the next release, it could have served as a starting point for what would have undoubtedly been a great album. Instead, the cheese stands alone.
Is Easy Wonderful a decent pop album? Perhaps, but true Guster fans, those who have been listening to them for years, there is bound to be disappointment. People don't go to Guster for pop music. They go to Guster for Guster, i.e. rock songs that have connection to the outside world, not idyllic images of fields of daisies. For this reason, Easy Wonderful is everything but wonderful.
