Eleven years ago, Gomez unexpectedly took home Britain’s Mercury
Prize for their brilliant ’70s psych-blues-rock-meets-indie-pop debut,
Bring It On, an honor that could have overshadowed everything
the band subsequently attempted. Rather than succumbing to intimidation
or its own perceived reputation, Gomez chose to evolve with each
successive release, reinventing their psych-blues recipe with
experimental flourishes of electronica, folk and pop. Gomez’s last
studio album, 2006’s How We Operate, was the culmination of the
band’s history — a cool hybridization of all the styles the
quintet has folded into its presentation from the start.
On A New Tide, their first studio album in three years, Gomez
blaze similar trails. “Mix” begins by veering between acoustic
folk/blues lilt and noisy indie-pop territory until its quiet
conclusion. “Win Park Slope” mixes Delta blues slide with sonorous
cello and ambient-electronic atmospherics. “Bone Tired” and “Airstream
Driver” tread similar ground from Brit-folk and indie-rock directions,
respectively, and “Natural Reaction” is the band’s attempt to channel a
little Tom Waits. Producer Brian Deck brings the evocative sensibility
to Gomez that he’s provided to the likes of Modest Mouse and Iron and
Wine. For all those who were drawn in by How We Operate‘s
expansive palette (and given the title track’s exposure on Grey’s
Anatomy, that number is considerable), A New Tide will
satisfy on all those same levels in distinctly new ways. —
Baker
This article appears in Apr 8-14, 2009.
