This California country-pop outfit was presumed kaput circa 2003, after their recorded third LP never materialized. Eight years on, the ensemble has returned to gigging, and finally issued that long-lost whispered-about disc. And there's no question that it's worth the wait. Advancing on 1998's Unknown Territory and 2000's No Depression-touted Halo in My Backpack, the greater Sacramento stalwarts enlarge their horizon, as seen on the stand-out track three. After a pair of rustic, post-
Neil Young acoustic'n'organ bobbers ("The Letters" is particularly excellent), "Come On" shifts the group into a harsher, heavier, whirring guitar sound to throw their customary acoustic base atwitter, as if they remembered that
Pavement is the prime local legend (there's more of this miasma on "Cup O' Gold," too). Yet their hearts remain rooted in the rural; Damon Wyckoff's pen and succulently syrupy-thick pipes are devoted to pinpointing childhood sensations from growing up in the Amador, California of the title -- perhaps pining for "Summertime Girls" while sitting "Under the Apple Tree." So he lets the acoustics chop and dice, Americana style, while his electrics pick lead color parts, and the rhythm section shakes a compliment of rhythms. (Jaunty horns, like on "Rodeo Boys," help too.) A group this good never should've stopped, and surprisingly, their music sounds even more 2011 (especially given what Sub Pop sells nowadays) than 2003. Utterly late, they're right on time. ~ Jack Rabid, The Big Takeover