Augustana

Once upon a time (we’ll call it 2005), Augustana bounded onto the scene with a major debut built on borderline-emo lyrics and delivery and soaring arrangements meant to drive up adolescent pulses. Half of these players based in San Diego actually hailed from the Midwest, and yet their big hit in round one was titled “Boston.” They were, in a phrase, all over the place.

It’s 2008 now, and the lost boys of Augustana have graduated to a more mature mainstream rock sound. Singer Dan Layus has fashioned his voice into a crisp, clear instrument, if still a bit thin at times – he sometimes sounds like Ryan O’Neal from Sleeping at Last, whinier but more versatile– and all these songs hang on his piano fingers. In three years on the road since their debut, Augustana have had time to hone their craft on buses and in hotel rooms while ascending from clubs shows to opening for brighter stars like Snow Patrol and Counting Crows, both of whom they are indebted to in more ways than one.

Sprawling opening track “Hey Now” informs us that, well, they’re back – and with a sizable budget. Augustana want to sound epic sometimes (label pun unintended), and they mostly succeed when they do. Credit producer Mike Flynn with the assist, as his tinkering makes this batch of tunes sound sterling whether listened to through speakers or headphones.

“I Still Ain’t Over You” is Layus’s love ditty to his wife of “one year and fourteen months,” and he addresses his young daughter from the road in “Meet You There Someday,” sighing that she may only know his voice “from a goddamn radio.” He tosses in an f-bomb for good effect. (Love ya, kid!) Yet his notion of waking early and dancing around the bedroom to Lucinda Williams with the one you love is a mighty fine idea.

“Sweet and Low” and “Either Way, I’ll Break Your Heart” are radio-rageous and well executed. It’s good to see these guys doing some unabashed pop amidst the brooding here. Credible rock bands need not fear the airwaves, as Rilo Kiley and Spoon have discovered in recent times. And somehow the guitar-and-drums interludes on “Either Way” vaguely recall Sleater-Kinney’s “One More Hour.” (This is a good thing.)

At times Layus and co-founding bassist Jared Palomar weave together some intriguing, minor-key harmonies – dark ones even – and that’s readily apparent on “Dust,” which starts a cappella and just builds until spilling over with angst or pain or both by its close. But its five minutes are excruciating for their pinched, squealing vocals and heavy-handed content. Layus obviously has demons/angels to work on out from his religious upbringing, but throwaway lines like “If you can’t love sin, who can you love?” and “I believed in the Lord/ He don’t show up anymore” have him coming off like a sneering brat who can’t reconcile a few summer church camps with the grown man he is today. The song is all batshit theology and cocksure attitude, the album’s jarring low point.

Maybe Augustana will withhold its paeans for women. So be it. Can’t Love, Can’t Hurt recovers from “Dust” with the pretty ballad “Rest, Shame, Love,” with Layus admonishing a young lady on the verge of fulfilling “the wrong dream, with the wrong man.” Sad but true: Everyone in their early 20s knows someone who’s made marriage “a cold gun.” The straight-laced piano pop of “Where Love Went Wrong” follows, providing more musical resolution than any lyrical wrapping of the album’s themes. Life doesn’t come with a pretty bow for Layus and Augustana. Not this time. Not yet.

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