Consumer Guide Album

The Go-Betweens: Bright Yellow Bright Orange [Jetset, 2003]
They say they're a band again, and I believe them--bye Forster, bye McLennan, welcome back Forster-McLennan. What I don't believe is that they're as integral or rocking a band as they once were, or that the strummy arrangements turn back on themselves like they should. But after longer than any neutral party will wait, the songs flower if not bloom into tints subtler than the noontime hues of the title. I don't mean the opener, which snaps into place with a classic identiriff, or the one where Robert wants to go to Brazil. Those are quick. I mean every single song. Too slow, too slight, still remarkable. B+