Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros - 'S/T'

By Nick Bradley

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic ZerosEdward Sharpe and the Magnetic ZerosVagrant/Rough Trade

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros used to remind me a little of the Manson Family, which is to say that it always looked and sounded (endearingly) like they had just crawled out of the Mojave Desert.On their first two albums, their sound was jangly and full of gospel soul. But the band’s latest release lacks the foot-stomping feel that set Alex Ebert and his band of minstrels apart, leaving them sounding more like the Brady Bunch.The music isn’t bad, per se. It just feels uninspired — like it was written to sell vinyl records at Urban Outfitters. The too-simple instrumentation is unimaginative, and the inauthentic hippie lyrical tropes on tracks like “Let’s Get High” are played out, leaving Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros feeling downright long-winded.A creative title might’ve distracted the listener from the album’s lackluster content. On the other hand, the album cover will look great on your wall.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GSLAZg3n8I