*keepers-3*avg-3.2
"Sleeping Lessons"**** is built on a arpeggiated keyboard in keeping with the dreamy title, and "Australia" sounds like a pleasant Motown pop hit. The album hits an early peak with "Phantom Limb"***** with a lushness a culmination of the influence of Pet Sounds. Though anything following this is a let down, the middle of the album is solid, with the syncopated "Sea Legs", and playfully orchestral "Red Rabbits". Playful is the only way to describe percussion the approximates dripping and lyrics as silly as 'out of a gunny sack for red rabbits, into the crucible to be rendered an emulsion'. The opening riff of "Turn On Me" again turns to 60's for inspiration, and "Black Wave"**** finally takes a brief respite away from the sunshine, night time in the neighborhood of Radiohead's "Street Spirit", while "Split Needles" is similarly dark. The album ends much more in The Shins' comfort zone, with "Girl Sailor" as another example of 60's-pop influence, and "A Comet Appears" is appropriately understated.
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