This Week's Album Releases (7/18/11)

Here at Paste we round up what we consider the most important releases of the week and share them with you. This week, Portugal. The Man drops their sixth and in our opinion, best release; Amy LaVere makes a statement with her edgy lyrics and They Might Be Giants keep us laughing with Join Us.

Portugal. The Man – In The Mountain, In the Cloud
“It can be frightening when a smart indie band like Portugal. The Man signs to a major label. Expectations are heightened, and more often than not, an easily digestible sound is favored over something with real depth. Luckily, In the Mountain, In the Cloud avoids such pitfalls. It’s encouraging to know both that Portugal. The Man has not lost sight of themselves despite their successes and that their new home at Atlantic will be one that fosters the creative vision the band has become known for.” Stay tuned for Wyndham Wyeth’s upcoming review.

Delicate Cutters – Some Creatures
“The band backs her subtly, with Kevin Nicholson’s fiddle adding flourishes to most of these songs. Like The Head and the Heart and The Civil Wars, Delicate Cutters draw inspiration from American folk forms, yet they show a wider musical and emotional palette than many of their contemporaries. “Me and the Birds” begins as a ragtime jaunt, but grows increasingly tense as the song builds to a calamitous finale. “Lovers Don’t Leap” crafts a complex chorale from a simple turn of phrase, but sounds as direct as a Fairport Convention tune. Occasionally, the production robs these songs of their impact: Instead of an authoritative stomp, “Let’s Be Free” moves with a hesitant lurch, which stumbles when they move into that sweeping chorus. But despite such technical flaws aside, these Cutters come across as anything but delicate.” Read Stephen M. Deusner’s upcoming review.

Amy LaVere – Stranger Me
“The most outstanding addition to LaVere’s band is David Cousar, who emerges as an immensely compelling and resourceful guitar player on Stranger Me. His vocabulary is wide, splitting the difference between the Smiths and the Byrds on “Damn Love Song” and adding sharp staccato notes to “Lucky Boy,” as though he were sticking pins in a voodoo doll. LaVere could rest on her lyrics alone, which are witty and feisty enough to stand on their own, but by giving her band boundless license to indulge any whim or eccentricity, she has crafted a well-rounded album that is already among the year’s best.” Read a review by Stephen M. Deusner.

They Might Be Giants – Join Us
“Their new album, Join Us, offers 18 new tracks that clock in around 46 minutes, meaning they’re 18 pretty short songs, a decision that pays off. The songs are novel in both conception and execution, and the band seems aware of the novelty, aware that two to three minutes is just the right length, that quirky and irreverent work best when the song ends before you want it to. They also seem aware of who they are, their strengths, their past, what their fans like and expect, but they seem far more concerned with having a good time than any of that." Read a review by Jeff Gonick.