here were several warning signs raised upon my viewing this album. One, the liner notes say it took six years to record. That’s quite a lot of time for an indie pop album. How long does it take to overdub a bass track? I don’t know, it’s just a bit suspicious. Second, the Elephant Six logo is not immediately present on this disc, but it may as well be. There are several guests from the collective, but fortunately, the somewhat messy (as I’ve found it to be) E6 aesthetic is not too debilitating to the album.


E6er Kevin Barnes contributes some unimpressive guitar to the unnecessary opener, “Free Scene”, a minute and a half of snoring guitar. Bill Doss, formerly of the Olivia Tremor Control, brings his voice to several songs. Scott Spillane, horn player for Neutral Milk Hotel, blows the brass on one of the highlights of the album, a cover of the Zombies’ “This Will Be Our Year”.


The song is given a respectable reading: the semi-psychedelic piano pop is executed relatively well, and reveals to us the basis for a good deal of the album. Several problems; there is a clarinet solo that is a little too “smooth” for my tastes, and lead singer Ben Crum doesn’t quite have the vocal strength to pull it off, but it is still pretty good.


The closing track, “Conquistadors” is the strongest song on the album. It begins unlike many of the other songs; a distorted guitar introduces us to the tone of the song. It soon becomes a well-executed jam. I know the term evokes strong images of dread locked heads bobbing to a forty-minute solo at a Phish concert, but this particular instrumental portion is pulled off so nicely, one questions its “liveness”. The buildups and the interjections seem so well choreographed; it kills a little bit of the wonder. However, that’s not really the point, even if the group did spend years rehearsing it, it sounds wonderful.


And so, the album ends on an unexpectedly strong point, fuzzy guitars purring out simple, yet wonderful riffs. The energy on “Conquistadors” shows us that the album could have been stronger, but that’s okay. Most of the lighter, poppier songs don’t have the power, or even the wistful qualities necessary to be memorable. Do not fret though, we may hear from Great Lakes again in another six years.