BISHOP ALLEN- “The Broken String”

I’ve always been pretty lukewarm on Bishop Allen, but the person who submitted this invited our “scathing review,” so here it goes. Only it won’t be scathing. The album is pretty good. Actually, I like it a lot more than the last one. Some of the songs on the record are quite good—although I’m sure that I’ll enrage Bishop Allen devotees by saying that one of those songs, in my view, is “Click, Click, Click, Click.” And also, “Like Castanets.” In fact, the songs that I actively dislike (“Butterfly Nets,” e.g.) or that leave me cold (“Choose Again”) are probably the ones BA fans like best.

So, basically, I have no idea what I’m talking about when I say I can’t give Broken String a hearty endorsement. But I can say that when Bishop Allen does their best work, the result is solid pop along the lines of Peter Bjorn and John or Belle and Sebastian.

If that floats your boat, this will, too. It drops 7/24.

Rain

Tour dates:

06/27/07 Chicago, IL – Beat Kitchen
06/28/07 Toronto, ON – Lee’s Palace
07/20/07 New York, NY – Seaport Music Festival @ South Street Seaport
07/21/07 Philadelphia, PA – North Star w/ Page France
07/22/07 Washington, DC – The Black Cat w/ Page France, The Teeth
07/23/07 Chapel Hill, NC – Local 506 w/ Page France, The Teeth
07/24/07 Atlanta, GA – The Earl w/ Page France, The Teeth
07/25/07 Baton Rouge, LA – Spanish Moon w/ Page France, The Teeth
07/26/07 Houston, TX – Proletariat w/ Page France, The Teeth
07/27/07 Austin, TX – Emo’s w/ Page France, The Teeth
07/28/07 Denton, TX – Haileys w/ Page France, The Teeth
07/29/07 Dallas, TX – Free Instore @ Good Records 2PM
07/30/07 Phoenix, AZ – The Paper Heart w/ Page France
07/31/07 Los Angeles, CA – Echo w/ Page France
08/01/07 San Francisco, CA – The Independent w/Page France
08/03/07 Portland, OR – Doug Fir w/ Page France
08/04/07 Seattle, WA – Crocodile Cafe w/ PageFrance
08/07/07 Denver, CO – Hi Dive w/ Page France
08/09/07 Chicago, IL – Subterranean w/ Page France
08/10/07 Bloomington, IN – The Bluebird w/ Page France
08/11/07 Dayton, CA – The Nite Owl w/ Page France
08/17/07 Cambridge, MA – Middle East Downstairs w/Page France
08/18/07 New York, NY – The Bowery Ballroom w/Page France

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