The Elected - Sun, Sun, Sun

How seriously should one take a side project? Over the years, rock stars’ attempts to supplement their day jobs with other musical means of expression have yielded mixed results. For every successful Traveling Wilburys or Postal Service album, there have been a myriad of projects like Tin Machine (the Bowie-led band you’ve never heard of). On Sun, Sun, Sun, Blake Sennett leads his part-time band through their second album of feel-good folk rock with a carefree spirit that could understandably cause Rilo Kiley fans to question the guitarist’s sincerity. By album’s end, however, the band’s warmth and geniality put all questions to rest and succeed in convincing the listener to experience the level of abandon they enjoy. One of the most absurd yet accurate ways to describe the sonic texture of Sun, Sun, Sun is that the album approximates what collaboration between the late Elliott Smith and The Beach Boys might have sounded like. As strange as it may seem, The Elected truly do make shoe-gazer music for those who spend their summers barefoot. Songs like “The Bank and Trust” and the exquisite “Fireflies in a Steel Mill” retain a laid-back, California rock vibe that would have felt at home on AM radio in the 60’s and 70’s. Clever arrangements by Sennett and co-producer/bandmate Mike Bloom achieve this feel by blending banjo, ukulele, lap steel and various horns with acoustic guitar-driven tracks. For every time the band wanders close to the boundary between carefree and campy (see the tracks “Do Me Good” and “Biggest Star”), they succeed with a tender folk ballad (“Desiree” and “I’ll Be Your Man”) or bittersweet pop tune (i.e. the title track). Vocalists Jenny Lewis (Rilo Kiley) and Stacey Dupree (Eisley) guest star with excellent backing vocals but the true highlight of the album is the obvious willingness of Sennett and his cohorts to eschew everything self-important about indie rock and make an album free of posturing and affectation. [www.theelected.com]