IN REVIEW: Sam Roberts Band - "TerraForm"

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The sixth full-length Sam Roberts album, and third credited to the band as a whole, takes the synth-pop leanings of previous LP Lo-Fantasy and augments them with the band's core sound in a way that makes it feel like a comfortable evolution rather than a jarring experiment. Thick grooves and strong melodies, the eternal hallmarks of Roberts' music, are front and centre on TerraForm, and there isn't a song on the tracklist that doesn't deliver these as advertised. This is very much an energized, engaged record, one that occasionally veers into psychedelic territory but refuses to lose itself in a haze. All told, there are few surprises in store (unless you missed Lo-Fantasy), but if you've followed the Sam Roberts Band through all of their shape shifts over the years, it's honestly kind of refreshing to not have expectations subverted for once.

October 28, 2016 • Universal
Highlights TerraForm • Rogue Empire • Spring Fever

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