Headphones

Headphones

[3] Although Headphones sound absolutely nothing like the Postal Service, the comparison is now inevitable whenever a veteran indie icon abandons guitars for synthesizers. However, whether you’ve got Jimmy Tamborello in your corner or not, the strength of an album ultimately rests on the songs, and it’s here where Pedro The Lion frontman David Bazan falls short. While Headphones certainly has its moments-most notably the falsetto-vocal-line/keyboard counterpart during “Pink And Brown” and caustic one-liners on the album’s standout track, “Natural Disaster”-considering how strong a songwriter Bazan has proved himself to be on the last few Pedro discs, the results here are mildly disappointing. Dave, you know these keyboards have more than one preset, right? (SUICIDE SQUEEZE)-Jonah Bayer