Returning to normal operations after a three-year hiatus,
Sloan offer a few new wrinkles on
The Double Cross -- the polyester-draped “Your Daddy Will Do” salutes the ‘70s in a suitably spangly disco fashion, there’s a hint of delicate pastoral folk on “Green Gardens, Cold Montreal” -- but the group doesn’t stray from the pop collage of 2006’s
Never Hear the End of It. Each of the 12 cuts lands somewhere between an homage and invention, the four singer/songwriters of
Sloan splicing together their deep record collections in ways familiar and fresh. An organ may bring
Dylan to mind, harmonies may recall
the Beatles, yet these allusions are deployed with knowing winks in songs that don’t explicitly sound like their influences.
Sloan are craftsman who weld their good taste into charming miniatures, and if
The Double Cross retains a hint of familiarity -- not due to the source material but rather the workmanship -- the group’s level of skill assures that this is as comfortably satisfying as its predecessors. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine