Freak-folk progenitors Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros continue their prolific ways with the arrival of their self-titled third album, and it's pretty much business as usual here. Thirteen tracks of pastoral pop, finger-strumming and hand-clapping, hip hippie self-referential tics and communal convergences. But the thing that sets this above previous albums Up From Below (2009) and Here (2012) is that it finally feels authentic – from the buoyancy of the first half to the maudlin, Johnny Cash-channelling bottom end, Alexander Ebert and his merry crew aren't merely mirroring their retro influences, they are inhabiting them.
There are always indulgences (and with the drug-baiting Let's Get High, the six-minute one-trick pony drags its feet despite its cheeky, jubilant overtones), but Edward Sharpe… predominantly feels like a focused record. Opener Better Days is a sleek reverb-ready rumbler with all the bells and whistles intact, not bloated paraphernalia; the soulful musical medley that is Life Is Hard is a joyous clusterbomb of mannered vibrancy. Another heightened focus is Jade Castrinos – the tete-a-tete with Ebert on LA-sunbleached Two is a fantastic respite, while when she takes the reins on the hushed twangs of Remember To Remember it's awe-striking.
Yet you never for a minute forget that this is and always will be the Alexander Ebert show – he stands above it all like a mystical ringmaster, whether it be on riding on his falsetto and a George Harrison-emulating guitar line on Please, or the soulful This Life. This album is proof that unlike the Polyphonic Spree, his Edward Sharpe menagerie has staying power.
