Shrimp Boat's final album is also their best -- a brilliantly concise and colorful distillation of the group's myriad influences,
Cavale is somehow both unassumingly charming and rigorously complex, a record which by all rights should buckle under the weight of its lofty aspirations but instead seems almost to float in mid-air. While the rootsy rhythms and textures of the previous
Duende are still intact, they've also given way to an even greater palette of sonic accents ranging from jazz to Afro-Caribbean to blue-eyed soul, often all in the mix at the same time -- from the skittering opener "Pumpkin Lover" to the shimmering pop of "What Do You Think of Love" to the jangling funk of "Free Love Overdrive," no two songs sound even remotely alike, but the album easily hangs together on the strength of the group's complete command of mood and atmosphere. A fittingly great farewell. ~ Jason Ankeny