Just as we’d grown used to eerie silence from The Posies morgue, Every Kind Of Light hits us like a Second Coming. And they’d managed to wrap the band up so nicely too, what with their last studio album Success being the logical conclusion to 1992’s debut Failure.
Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow, the songwriting kernel of The Posies, continue to wave the banner for power-pop. It is a baton they seized from Husker Du and Cheap Trick, and passed to Travis and Josh Rouse.
‘All In A Day’s Work’ is The Posies showing why they became a cult in the first place. Auer and Stringfellow have born-for-each-other voices and a rare genius for jangly pop. The combined effect is at once haunting, summer-tinged and breezy.
Driven by an urgent, lilting melody, the lead single 'Second Time Around' is a worthy cheerleader for the record.
But there are plenty of new angles here too. For the first time, the backing band contribute to the songwriting, leading The Posies into rewarding, uncharted territory.
‘Could He Treat You Better?’ recalls the stoned majesty of Hendrix’s ‘Wind Cries Mary’; ‘Sweethearts Of Rodeo Drive’ is, in the context of a Posies' album, extravagantly intricate.
Every Kind Of Light is by no means the definitive Posies record. Nevertheless, it will keep their home fires burning.