Okay, maybe it's just me on this one, but after you appropriate some Samuel Beckett action for the title of your debut LP (in this case, The Broken West's minor wave-maker I Can't Go On, I'll Go On released in early 2007 via Merge), you've really gotta throw-down big time with the weightiness of the ol' sophomore effort. Right?
...Or, you could just chill in your backyard and write another record in between alternating rounds of sinking brews and sinking bean bags, I guess! Because that's just what the LA indie-pop quartet went and did with their second (and infinitely less cleverly-titled) LP, Now or Heaven. Well, figuratively, at least. Says the band's press release:
While many bands' second albums end up being about the road, Now or Heaven originates from home, the longing to get there, and all that comes from being there. The perspective generated from time spent on the road and the distance traveled led to a new, unnamable development.
In other words, there are a lot of songs written from Dorothy Gale's post-Oz point-of-view on this record. I don't really see their cover of "Over the Rainbow" on the tracklisting though. Hmmm...
Anyway, this new batch of homebody backyard barbecue jams will see release September 9 of this year via the wonderful wizard of Merge and will be preceded by a smattering of shows along the West Coast (staying close to home, you know) and one lone summer festival date, after which any band that hates the road this much will presumably breakup and start a co-op farm or something. Ziiing!
There's no place like home:
