Walter Strauss
Pulling Shadows
(Redstone)
Walter Strauss covers a lot of ground. He's based in California, but has co-written with the Valley's Jonathan Stevens, and arranges much of his muscular guitar work to blend with Malian kora master Mamadou Diabate. Fusion abounds. "In the Stone" evokes meditative Native American rhythms; riffs on "Spinner's Cascade" summon Dougie MacLean leads; "Love Puddle" collects in the cracks between funk and free-form jazz; "The Beast" is a collision between Brazilian jazz and a bad attitude. He even does some straight folk. The only downside is that Strauss could do more with his light voice. It's consistently soothing and pleasant, but that's not always the target effect. Strauss plays the Montague Bookmill Aug. 29.
—Rob Weir
The Peacock Flounders
Hello Beautiful
(Thin Man)
A master of disguise, the peacock flounder clings to the sea floor, watching for prey. Likewise, New Haven's Peacock Flounders have disguised themselves as Crazy Horse, Neil Young's backup band. This is not a bad thing. The chunka-chunka-boom sonic attack allows anyone prey to old school rock 'n' roll to be pulled under their spell. The setup also allows the nuances of Kerry Miller's wounded voice and Ron Sutfin's co-songwriting (both formerly of the legendary Miracle Legion) to be front and center.
—Alan Bisbort
Wire
Object 47
(Pink Flag)
Wire's turbulent 30-year history has seen the band embrace countless stylistic shifts, but Object 47 marks a different kind of change. Founder Bruce Gilbert has left, and the new album is the group's first without the original lineup. Their latest is poised between the remarkable noise-rock of their recent comeback and the silky electro-pop of their '80s work. The propulsive snap and snarl of "One of Us" is seductively catchy, but too many songs seem overly slick, manicured and bloodless. These precisely engineered art-rock nuggets wouldn't have sounded out of place in the Alternative Boom of the '90s the band sat out. While the unfailingly pleasant Object 47 goes down easy, this is exactly what Wire's best work has never done.
—Jeff Jackson
Inara George
An Invitation
(Everloving)
Fun fact: Inara George, of indie duo The Bird and The Bee, is the daughter of Little Feat's Lowell George. On her first solo release, she's teamed up with the legendary Van Dyke Parks (who also provided sweeping arrangements for Joanna Newsom), whose orchestrations are classic and lush, sometimes dark and Kurt Weill-ish. Like Newsom, George is twee, but her songs hint at musical theater, and her pure voice has none of Newsom's sometimes irritating edge, though she sprinkles a welcome bit of gravel.
—John Adamian
