If there's anyone left yearning for yet another messy California garage-rock album — even one from Northern climes — they need not turn to the Fresh & Onlys' latest, Long Slow Dance, an album as artful in its pop as it is bitter in its rock & roll sweetness. Songwriter and singer Timothy Cohen seems jangle-bent on picking up where R.E.M. left off circa 1986, channeling his psychedelic tendencies into precisely appointed melody after melody, gleaming hook after hook. The new, lush and strummy sound of the Fresh & Onlys is a long, slow-burning fuse from its slash-and-scorch start, but it's still a rock & roll band, and it has rarely burned so brightly or smartly.
Local Motion: This fall, Troubadour Dali has been on an aggressive tour of the West. Get to this show early and welcome the band back home.
