The Long Winters

Putting The Days To Bed

[3/5] Like John Vanderslice and Colin Meloy, John Roderick is a verbose wordsmith who writes indie-rock songs in the hopes of being timeless instead of hip. The latter means that he’ll probably get all the recognition he deserves a few years after his death, while the former sometimes makes listeners wonder exactly how much recognition he deserves. There’s no question that his pop stylings in the Long Winters are refined and his gabbing is gifted. But occasionally, Roderick gets in the way of himself and makes the proceedings more difficult than they should be. The slightly twangy, mid-tempo ballad “Honest” is a seemingly sincere conversation between a mother and daughter. But Roderick sings it so emotively, it eventually occupies the is-this-supposed-to-be-serious-or-not? gray area where Cake and Barenaked Ladies reside. Putting The Days To Bed is a solid showing; a less-is-more approach could have made it even better. (BARSUK) Marc Hawthorne