Radar Bros Auditorium WB rating out of 100

The Radar Brothers music is rooted in the lazy days of the Californian sun. Their plodding, dream-like shuffles and multi-layered vocal harmonies conjure up images of the desert foothills and dramatic Pacific Ocean views of the Big Sur and other fabled West Coast ‘drop-out’ zones. Perhaps if one were to relocate and plant themselves on a back porch rocking chair in the middle of the Californian desert, then Auditorium may become a vital, engaging and dynamic record. Somehow, I doubt it.

The album’s 12 songs rarely shift out of a languid musical first gear, maintaining the same (initially comforting but eventually suffocating) tempo that threatens to neuter the conscious state of the listener. ‘On Nautilus’ attempts to arrest the flow of low-key country rock with some much needed apocalyptic riffing and ‘Hills of Stone’ sees a deviation from the guitar, drums, keys formula in the way of a sea-sick synthesiser. These are brief moments of variance however, and generally the instrumentation is disparate; nothing melds or binds to form anything emotionally significant on the record. Not even Jim Putnam’s wonky voice can squeeze any commitment out of the listener and, on the whole, it is without any great enthusiasm or conviction that he sings his tales of nature and relationships.

The highlights on the record are few and far between. On ‘Warm Rising Sun’, a swirling organ intro gives way to Steve Goodfriend’s crisp drum kit and on ‘Happy Spirits’ the band at least sound on the creative side of paint-by-numbers music. The standout moment comes courtesy of ‘Lake Life’s’ bright waltz through the indolent days of a relationship where even the magnitude and beauty of the couple’s surroundings pale into insignificance. Elsewhere, it is an onerous task having to wade through the tedium of the instrumentation in order to form any connection with Putnam’s narratives. On ‘Lake Life’, however, his word-play is at its peak and he describes the transcendence of the relationship (“the ocean/ a lake for us” and “for here we are, tonight we are but us”) simply but with clarity and sensitivity. Here, the tremolo guitar and singing saw illicit an engagement with the music; these are small, but effective, touches that serve to underscore everything that is lacking in the rest of the album as a whole.

It is rather disappointing that one cannot write more positively about a band that has had the opportunity and privilege to hone their craft over 12 years and across five records. Alas, there has been no directional change or mutation in their songs in the course of this period and they are the worse for it. Lyrically and musically there is a lack of emotive substance on this record and the breadth of their vision is of a critically limited nature.

The track ‘Watching Cows’, best sums up Auditorium’s merits; it wouldn’t be an actively unpleasant experience to sit in a paddock and gaze at bovines chewing the cud. You could, however, find more interesting things to do with your time.