Wild Pendulum (RSD 24)

The sixth full-length release for the Scottish indie pop band was produced by Bright Eyes’ Mike Mogis.

Since the band started in 1987, the Trash Can Sinatras have always been reliable. Every record has delivered exactly what people needed from them: lovely guitar pop songs done with a light touch, deep emotional feelings, and melodies as rich and warm as a late-autumn heat wave. Since their original run ended in the ’90s, they’ve come back regularly to remind people that they are just about the best guitar pop band still going, with a new album roughly every five years or so.

Wild Pendulum finds the band in fine form, expectedly. It also finds them doing a bit of sonic experimentation, unexpectedly. With former Adventures in Stereo mastermind Simon Dine on board providing the kind of “sonic scenery” he added to many recent Paul Weller albums and producer Mike Mogis capturing fuller arrangements than usually heard on TCS albums, it’s the most sonically interesting album of their long career.