The members of Sloan have always been able to experiment with their signature sound -- '60s pop meets '90s indie pop -- while pleasing most of their current fans and gaining new ones. Between the Bridges is the band's fifth studio album, and it's a first-rate Sloan release -- well-crafted songs, perfect harmonies, and clever lyrics. Between the Bridges is one of Sloan's most consistent offerings -- it's Navy Blues with better production, higher quality songs, and a polished (but not slick) sound.

The band takes major cues from the successful, guitar-based, and experimental Navy Blues and returns to producer/engineer extrordinaire Brenndan McGuire -- who produced Sloan's Twice Removed and One Chord to Another albums. The album's tight arrangements and solid pop core, and the band's naturally engaging songwriting, make Between the Bridges one of Sloan's best -- a standout in the band's impressive discography.

This progression is most obvious on tracks like Andrew Scott's blues-rock anthem "Sensory Deprivation," Patrick Pentland's rocking "Friendship," Chris Murphy's Television/Halifax club ode "The Marquee and the Moon," and Jay Ferguson's mellow and bouncy "Waiting for the Slow Songs." Not only is Sloan making harder-edged, bluesier albums (compared to its pre-Navy Blues releases), but remarkably, it still sounds like a pop band -- innovative, pure, and energetic. Scott's tracks, in particular, have developed from simple Beatlesque numbers into astonishingly genuine, multilayered pop songs.

Over its 12 songs, Between the Bridges is eclectic, energized, and cohesive, even if the individual artists don't always stretch out on their own compositions. The guys from Sloan have never sounded so sure of themselves, and the depth on Between the Bridges is the evidence. Somehow this band gets better while experimenting with new concepts and sounds. Murderecords.

-Gina Boldman

photo: Muderecords