The Apples in Stereo - New Magnetic Wonder

The Apples’ helium-guzzlin’, feel-good pop has been the nucleus of the famed Elephant 6 collective for a dozen years, and New Magnetic Wonder comes in as the band’s sixth in a string of sometimes brilliant, sometimes ho-hum LPs. I won’t feign to understand Apples leader Robert Schneider’s newly-created “Non-Pythagorean scale,” which he seems to employ only in brief segues on the record, but I can say it doesn’t feel as though the band is fulfilling its potential. These tracks feel more chunky and electronic than their fuzzier predecessors, but there are still a handful of stellar tracks thrown in—“Sunndal Song” is one of Hilarie Sidney’s final contributions to the Apples catalog, as she left the band this past fall to concentrate on her other group The High Water Marks. “7 Stars” and “Same Old Drag” display Schneider at his most refined bubbliness, but it’s hard to shake the idea that he’s capable of much, much more. [www.applesinstereo.com]