Many members of the L.A. quintet Grouplove have had their bodies emblazoned with "Grouplove" tattoos, so they're nothing if not committed to the project. That full-bore, all-in approach comes through in their songs, too: Like Grouplove's ingratiating debut (2011's Never Trust a Happy Song), the new Spreading Rumours positively brims over with scrappy, happy, sinewy little earworms.
If there's a watchword for Spreading Rumours, with its dollops of Sunset Strip gregariousness and sweet boy-girl choruses, it's not so much excess as abundance: Forty-five minutes into the record, where most bands would be burying deep cuts, Grouplove is still dispensing impossibly infectious would-be hits like the unshakeable "Raspberry."
At times, the hookiness can border on overbearing; the insistent "Ways to Go" even ventures perilously close to the cloying territory once mined by Barenaked Ladies' "One Week." But on balance, the candy-coated craftsmanship and joy on display throughout Spreading Rumours makes the record ludicrously easy to love — a welcome dose of summertime, just in time for fall.
-Stephen Thompson, NPR
Track List:
1. I'm With You
2. Borderlines And Aliens
3. Schoolboy
4. Ways To Go
5. Shark Attack
6. Sit Still
7. Hippy Hill
8. What I Know
9. Didn't Have To Go
10. Bitin The Bullet
11. News To Me
12. Raspberry
13. Save The Party For Me
Photo by Pamela Littky