Album Review: Pinback - Information Retrieved

Pinback's fifth studio full-length album – their first in five years, teaser EPs in between notwithstanding – is a rare and special creature. It is the sort of record, much like Mogwai's Mr Beast (2006), that's good – really good, in fact – but just not for any reason in particular.

This isn't as negative a charge as it might seem. There's no denying that Information Retrieved is an excellent album, easily as good as 2004's Summer In Abaddon, and probably better than 2007's Autumn Of The Seraphs. The problem is that in constructing something so consistent, Pinback have inadvertently released a record almost devoid of standout moments, either positive or negative.

The album kicks off with Proceed To Memory, which does a fine job of showcasing – or introducing, if this is your first encounter – both Pinback's distinct guitar tones and the unmistakable vocal strains of co-founder Rob Crow, sounding as deceptively smooth as ever. Curiously, Crow's creative counterbalance, Armistead “Zach” Burwell Smith IV, seems to have stepped back from sharing main vocal duties, appearing quite happy to act as a back-up harmoniser/chorus vocalist for the majority of the record.

Otherwise, it's all par for the Pinback course – Drawstring recalls Boo, from 2001's Blue Screen Life, with its old-timey radio transmission interludes, and the restrained, piano-drenched Diminished is simply sublime, its lyrics particularly affecting if you've ever been depressed (“Should it be so hard/ to have a nice day?”). All in all, Crow and Smith have certainly delivered another beauty of a listen, all nuance and interplay and the road less travelled – but even now, literally at least six listens in, it's still impossible to tell you why.