Late Lemonheads front-man Evan Dando is bored and tired, having summoned just enough energy to string a few songs together for a new album. From the outset, Dando's vocal delivery is awash in apathy, and arrayed in several days of greasy stubble. Where is the passion? Dando's voice is potentially so strong, but so sorely misused on the first few tracks. By track four ("Waking Up") though, there are signs of hope. First a staccato piano line followed by understated, squealing guitar noise that chokes for air, but never manages to reach the surface. Then follows Dando's vocal. This time, the lethargy is the perfect foil to the sprightly piano backdrop. From this point the album gains in confidence, if not in momentum. This is not the up-tempo guitar pop of the Lemonheads but lazy, sun-stroked, acoustic Americana, injected with an occasional hit of organ, marxophone, hand clapping or giraffe tambourine (among other things). It is the older, wiser musings of a rock star, who reflects on his indulgent past and concludes, "All my life/I thought I needed all the things I didn't need at all/All my life/I thought I wanted all the things I didn't want at all ("All My Life")." Buy and listen to this before summer passes you by.
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