It's been nearly three years since the last album from The Umbrellas. In that time, the San Francisco quartet have been polishing their chops, refining their attack. Fairweather Friend, their second album, is yet another burst of indie smarts in recent years from Slumberland Records, and evidence that The Umbrellas have no worries about having their second album live up to their first.
Opener "Three Cheers" mines down-tempo hooks before erupting into something much more rambunctious, while "Goodbye" is winsome and wistful, like an early Heavenly side. Elsewhere, there are signs of new avenues to pursue. "Toe the Line", for example, is rough and still charming, like Boyracer's stuff, while "Say What You Mean" reaches for the stars on the shared vocals from Matt Ferrera and Morgan Stanley. "Echoes" reveals that this band have lost none of their charms while considering harder-edged hooks.
A listener will likely want to applaud The Umbrellas for stretching here on their second record. Fairweather Friend has considerable stylistic triumphs for this band (the longer "Say What You Mean", for one), and numbers that suggest a rich expansion of their own earlier efforts ("Games", a bright burst of pop, for example). And all of this works. The music of The Umbrellas charms as it offers reminder after reminder of the resilience of this style when able musicians embrace it.
Fairweather Friend by The Umbrellas is out on Friday via Slumberland Records.
[Photo: Jorge Aguilar]