After two albums of increasingly big indie rock,
the Airborne Toxic Event take a little time to wander with their third album,
Such Hot Blood. Working this time with producer
Jacquire King, who has worked with artists like
Dawes,
Of Monsters and Men, and
Tom Waits, the band makes full use of his versatility, stepping away from the rhapsodic,
Arcade Fire-inflected rock of its previous albums to try something a little smaller and more personal. On the country-inflected "Bride & Groom," it feels as if the band is going for something a little more earnestly...well...earnest, evoking emotion from listeners through the song's narrative rather than strapping them to a rocket of strings and synths and shooting for the stars. The problem is, shooting for the stars is really where
the Airborne Toxic Event are at their best, so while songs like "Timeless" and "The Fifth Day" might feel like they are treading on old ground, it's when they have the time and space to really stretch out that they're able to get up to full speed. ~ Gregory Heaney