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Sep 23, 2011Less dynamic and more ruminative than The Ruminant Band, here are 10 songs and a poky instrumental for country hippies manque and other shaggy folk down on the little luck they ever had.
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Aug 3, 2011Spearheading the Sub Pop folk renaissance alongside Fleet Foxes and Blitzen Trapper, the Chicago quartet play the kind of rootsy beard-rock on Tripper that's beloved by guys in lumberjack shirts.
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Aug 3, 2011Featuring generous heaps of falsetto and sparse, jagged guitar licks, Fruit Bats' Tripper plays as a spectral highway romp that pairs jaunty folk-pop ditties with effervescent pop.
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MagnetNov 11, 2011Tripper is a strummy, breezy delight. [#81, p. 55]
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Sep 2, 2011Together, the imagery and music provide a nostalgic, innocent atmosphere, and an album worthy of a listen.
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Sep 2, 2011It's full of the kind of heavy textures and atmospheric nuances that explain exactly why Johnson is also a movie soundtrack composer of increasing repute.
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Aug 24, 2011All said and done, it's the kind of enchanting, quietly literate indie rock record you could build an intricately compelling life story from, while retaining a fascinating jumble of half-told, quarter-understood anecdotes, stolen glances and sad, gleaming characters for leftovers. Lovely stuff.
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UncutAug 18, 2011The rest of Tripper rises to the challenge with nonchalant ease. [Sep 2011, p.87]
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Aug 16, 2011For this, Fruit Bats' fifth outing, the Chicagoan took inspiration from a decade-old train ride.
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Aug 15, 2011Just as the early promise of the album looks to be coming unwound, closing track Pictures Of A Bird finds the band in fine form.
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Sep 14, 2011In its explicit references towards woozy psych, soul and even glam, Tripper is better, and marks Johnson as being a songwriter and rock auteur deserving of comparison with the likes of Mercer, Andy Cabic and Jim James.
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Aug 11, 2011The songs convey a lot of deep ideas without resorting to flowery prose. In fact the words are often fairly straightforward which ends up making the whole project hit a little deeper than initially anticipated.
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Aug 4, 2011Essentially, Tripper is not a drastic change for Fruit Bats but an homage to expansion and trying new things–while still knowing where home is.
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Aug 4, 2011Johnson-who's also currently putting in time as a member of The Shins-keeps the Bats' sound relevant the same way he always has: crafting songs that are sharp and to the point while avoiding the tweeness that saddles some of today's folk bands.
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Aug 3, 2011The ambient stuff is nice, too -- different than what Fruit Bats fans are used to, perhaps, but proof that Johnson knows how to stretch his legs without losing his balance.
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Aug 3, 2011The past four albums have focused mainly on the singer/songwriter. On Tripper, Johnson turns that formula around and focuses everything outward-the lyrical themes, the more-involved instrumentation and the mood.
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Aug 3, 2011It's a surprisingly dark turn for Johnson, but it is executed beautifully and is not only the best song here, but one of the best in the Fruit Bats' catalog.
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Aug 3, 2011It's all very familiar and nice, nothing too radical, and the kind of stuff that gets lapped up and lambasted in equal measure, depending on who's dispensing the feedback. But really, what did you expect?
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Aug 23, 2011The only problem is that Johnson's tales aren't all that hooky. At least, not enough to buoy Tripper's soft and moody music.
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Aug 9, 2011Tripper finishes strong, picking up steam on the swooning album-closer "Picture Of A Bird," proving Fruit Bats is strongest when it chooses not to abandon its roots completely, and straddles the line where past meets present.
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MojoJan 31, 2012It wanders and drifts moodily now and then, but there also some strong songs. [Feb 2012, p.99]
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Q MagazineSep 21, 2011Captivating. [Oct 2011, p.120]
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Aug 9, 2011Mostly this parade of midtempo guitar-plus-keys tracks comes off as inert and paint-by-numbers.
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Aug 3, 2011Here, every song tells a little story in which Johnson assumes different perspectives and uses broader instrumentation.
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Aug 24, 2011They're good but not excellent; they have brilliant songwriting over mediocre melodies and the old-newness becomes old again quickly. Five. Right smack dab in the middle of nothing and everything.
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Aug 25, 2011There's too many synths, too many hooks, and just too much happening for us to enjoy it. The charm is gone, and we're left with a mess too muddy to understand.