New Year

Brothers Matt and Bubba Kadane never promised a huge departure when they transitioned from Bedhead to the New Year in 1999. As NEWNESS ENDS picked up where the former band's TRANSACTION DE NOVO left off, so this record subtly expounds upon 2004's THE END IS NEAR's musical advances. That previous sweet Bedhead bleak streak is still in evidence on "My Neighborhood," but other songs like "The Company I Can Get" and "X Off Days" are slicker, brighter affairs. That half the songs were written on piano might help account for some of the changes in tone, which is most noticeable on the straight-up piano ballads, "MMV" and "Body & Soul." Lyrically, the New Year remain glum, but their willingness to widen their sound evokes the opposite, which is hope.