Travis, revitalized

I'm trying to think of the best way to approach this topic. Travis is weird, epitomized their first album, a rocking, lumbering affair through 9 tracks (including one of the worst songs ever put to record, U16 Girls) and then a final stunning three songs that sound absolutely nothing like the previous nine. It was this mellower, quieter Travis that took over over the course of the next three albums. Of course, that meant that suddenly Travis became the darlings of all mellow indiers, and it seemed like Travis embraced this because there were very few hints that they had ever been anything else. I mean, there was the occasional brilliantly off-beat song like Last Train, but most songs were pretty simple and mellow. By 12 Memories, Travis just sounded tired. They sounded tired of being mellow. And being indie. And well, indiedom was tired of them because how can indiedom stick with a band for more than two albums? I mean, two albums is pushing it. By album three (which 12 Memories was album three for all indiers as they never realized Good Feeling had existed), the rules of the indie kingmakers dictates that bands must be considered sell-outs or just plain irrelevant.

So when Travis slipped The Boy With No Name out there last year, nobody cared. In fact, most people that liked The Man Who that I knew didn't even know that Travis was still around. And it's too bad because The Boy With No Name contained the greatest hint that Travis was, well, happy again. Selfish Jean was the most exuberant thing they had created since 1997. Although the rest of the album was pretty mellow, I prayed and hoped that this was a sign. And yea, verily, gentle readers, it is.

Ode to J Smith just came out on election day. Once again, no one knew travis had released a record. Allmusic gave it a generic 3 and a half stars. Pitchfork gave it five out of ten. I mean, how could it be good? It's the sixth studio album from a band that's been ignored since the Invisible Band. Naturally, I think these reviews are unfair. Because what they miss is that Travis is reborn. Explosively. Back to Good Feeling but with better songcraft and smarter ideas. It's quite a joyful listen.

Now, I know I praise British Sea Power up and down with being so radically innovative and whatnot. But Travis's J Smith (the song) might be the most fascinating listen of 2008. It may not be my final song of the year, but I jsut haven't heard anyone use angular guitars and choirs quite in the same way. And honestly, yes, it seems that Travis mines at times the same musical territory as Snow Patrol, but SP is so cloying and saccharine nowadays. Their latest is a disaster.

Anywho, I highly recommend the new Travis one. I'm going to add J Smith to my imeem list for 2008 for you guys to listen to.