I can tell you're in denial, get over it

Despite my recent musical purchases, which have occupied me quite a bit this week, I have also been revisiting a couple of CDs I've owned for a few more weeks. One in particular is How We Operate by Gomez, their most recent album. It's probably the most accessible and in many ways the most consistent thing they've produced. Like Wilco's Sky Blue Sky it's an album you can listen to all the way through. And like Wilco's album, it's certainly not uninteresting. In fact the more I listen, the more I like it. At the end of the year it will feature on my 'musical discoveries of 2007' list, having been released in 2006 and is therefore ineligible for 'top albums of the year'.

Anyway, the album opens with Notice, a great ballad and then the more upbeat See the World. This is followed by the title track How We Operate, one of the album highlights. Then you get the excellent Hamoa Beach and Girlshapedlovedrug. The next two songs aren't much to rave about, but then with Charlie Patton Songs and the rest of the tracks it becomes more inspiring again. A strong start, a strong conclusion and a minor flat patch in the middle. I also really like In Our Gun, or selected tracks from it, but never got into Split the Difference. Bring It On does have some fairly strong stuff too.