Buffalo Tom Three Easy Pieces

The Boston-bred (Somerville, actually) trio Buffalo Tom try to reconnect with their ageing, alt-rock demo on Three Easy Pieces. No small feat for a band who pretty much disappeared (save for an annual hometown show) off the 'college-rock' radar a decade back when their last studio release Smitten, failed to garner the accolades of the band's earlier albums. On their sixth studio release (not counting a pair of best-of/unreleased comps) a matured Buffalo Tom continues the pattern of mid-tempo American love songs, accentuated with a paternal feel courtesy of family-man Bill Janovitz.

Bad Phone Call is a somewhat curious way to open the album, a bit mellower than expected, with the raspy, instantly identifiable Janovitz trading off and well-complementing bassist/part-time crooner Chris Colbourn. Good Girl and the title track both evoke the punchy pop that adorned Sleep Eyed. September Shirt and Bottom of the Rain showcase BT at their best, a little bit melancholy and a lot of fun (with riffs that closely recall the Big Red Letter Day classic Sodajerk). On Bottom Janovitz howls "Where'd they go? Where are all those golden years?" Janovitz pulls heavy on the heartstrings with Gravity and Lost Downtown, while sad-sack tracks like Pendleton and could be considered Smitten B-sides (not necessarily a great thing).

The mid-tempo CC and Callas finds the young-at-heart Chris Coburn singing "these are the things that I miss the most/holding your hand in falling snow/singing along to the Rolling Stones - these are the best times." Hearts of Palm and the country twang of closing track Thrown are vintage, harmonious slow jams (the former on par with the likes of Frozen Lake from 1992's Let Me Come Over) "I am a lucky man, glass of wine in my hand." Yet you won't find another barn-burner such as Birdbrain or Velvet Roof here, mainly because they've been there/done that over fifteen years ago.

With Buffalo Tom there is no revolving door of band members and it shows; the tight-knit unit has evolved their power-pop craft over the past twenty years. And although Buffalo Tom will certainly never set the music world aflame with their lyrical content ("it's just a lil haiku to say how much I like you" is about as good as it'll get), Three Easy Pieces proves that getting old never sounded so good.