Coming off a damn good album,
Superchunk continues to evolve its songwriting style by adding keyboards and synths (and strings) to offset the slightly lowered levels of guitars. The songs here are still damn good, but they don't necessarily match up with the wall-of-bombast that marked the
Superchunk of olde. "The Length of Las Ramblas" is a positively tender tune, upheld by Mac's vocals on top of a layering of acoustics and keyboards. The string section of Ana Balka and
Heather McIntosh provide an invaluble addition to the title track. Even after a decade of putting up wonderful music,
Late-Century Dream proves
Superchunk still has some life left in it and great songs to perform. ~ Jeremy Salmon