Recent release roundup

The Veils - Sun Gangs
The third full-length from the Veils finds the band progressing from its folk-influenced beginnings to something comfortably bigger, as if writing anthems was never a stated goal, just an organic consequence. The brains behind the London-based crew is Finn Andrews (son of XTC’s Barry Andrews), who has an uncommonly good voice—versatile enough to sound natural yowling or crooning. The best songs are piano-led, such as leadoff track “Sit Down by the Fire,” along with a few darkly pretty ballads. The peppier songs are hit and miss: “The Letter” is War-era U2 done well, but “Killed by the Boom” is post-punk gone awry. “Larkspur,” at 8 1/2 minutes, is a bit bloated. So Sun Gangs is inconsistent, but when it’s good, it’s really good. And when it misses, it still comes pretty close.

Tinted Windows - Tinted Windows
Tinted Windows is one of the oddest supergroups you’ll find. That’s James Iha, formerly of Smashing Pumpkins, on guitar, Fountains of Wayne’s Adam Schlesinger on bass and 57-year-old Bun E. Carlos of Cheap Trick on drums. The singer? Taylor Hanson, the middle brother from Hanson. Not surprisingly, this is power pop (emphasis on the pop). Say what you will about Hanson, but the guy can sing a hook that’ll stick with you like a melted Blow Pop. While the mid-tempo stuff kinda sucks (“Dead Serious,” “Back with You”), zippier tracks like “Messing with My Head” and “Can’t Get a Read on You” are irresistible. As a whole, though, it’s too much. Power pop is always sugary. That’s part of the fun. But this is like pouring syrup on your Lucky Charms.

Silversun Pickups - Swoon
Let’s get it out of the way now: Smashing Pumpkins. It’s next to impossible to listen to Silversun Pickups without thinking of the Pumpkins. There’s the wall of guitars, the early-grunge loud-quiet-loud dynamic, and singer/guitarist Brian Aubert’s voice even sounds like Billy Corgan’s at times. All that has made this LA band pretty polarizing, and putting out another album in the same vein doesn’t do anything to help that. The Pickups do go overboard on the aping, and at times Swoon feels too ponderous. But I still give these guys (and girl) the benefit of the doubt. I love the giant sound of multi-tracked guitar fuzz. I like the addition of strings. Most importantly, I like the accessible yet engrossing songs.

Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band - Outer South
Since ditching the Bright Eyes moniker, Conor Oberst sounds like a man all loosened up. Gone is the tortured, quivering boy hunched over his acoustic guitar. The cover of last year’s eponymous record showed Oberst sleeping in a hammock, and the music had a likewise peaceful, easy feeling. While I miss some of Oberst’s raw, youthful indignation, the maturation has served him pretty well so far. But he’s feeling a bit too generous on Outer South. Six of the 16 tracks are written and sung by his bandmates, with whom he has obviously jelled. That’s nice and all, but those are by far the weakest songs, especially the cringe-worthy “Air Mattress.” It’s a shame, because if you take those way, there’s close to an album’s worth of good material.