Five years after their excellent album
Flippin' Out,
Gigolo Aunts returned with a new album for a new label: E Pluribus Unum, founded by
Adam Duritz of
Counting Crows. Unfortunately,
Minor Chords and Major Themes is a bit of a letdown for fans who had waited years for a follow-up to one of the decade's best indie-pop albums. Although the absence of former lead guitarist Phil Hurley is a strong candidate if you're pointing fingers, the fact is that in the previous few years alternative power-pop had come a long way and raised the bar significantly. The album kicks off with an irresistible single ("C'Mon C'Mon"), but nothing else on the album comes close to matching it, including "The Big Lie" (with vocals by Duritz and
Adam Schlesinger from
Fountains of Wayne) and "You'd Better Get Yourself Together Baby" (originally featured on an episode of the WB network's alterna-teen series Felicity). ~ John Bush