+/- – Jumping the Tracks

+/- are still more than relevant in their return with Jumping the Tracks....
+/- : Jumping the Tracks
7.5 Teenbeat
2014 

+/- : Jumping the TracksThere was a time, long ago, when laptops and keyboards were curious extras in music, certainly not on the same level as guitars.  One of the forces that brought keys to the fore was indietronica, and one of the sonic style’s earliest performers was Brooklyn’s +/-.  The rest of the musical world has caught up with the band during their long hiatus after 2008’s Xs on Your Eyes (QRO review), but they are still more than relevant in their return with Jumping the Tracks.

Too often indietronica can fall into a lull, its ease in creation, performing, and listening that can make artists lack for ambition.  +/- have always been at least a little guilty of that, and there are nice-but-inessential songs on Tracks, but there are also vital ones.  Opener “Young Once” manages to be ominous without being heavy, while the following “The Bitterest Pill” has the energy of the best of +/-.  Some of the sadder stuff does lull a bit, but in high quality, like a hi-fi version of sad Sebadoh (QRO live review).

All those years off haven’t just meant that the rest of the world has caught up with +/-.  It’s also shown that their sound has staying power.

+/– – The Bitterest Pill

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