User ratings in Music are temporarily disabled. More info
- Summary: Eric Johnson returns to the indie rock band for its fourth album after having worked with The Shins and Vetiver.
- Record Label: Sub Pop
- Genre(s): Indie, Rock
- More Details and Credits »
Score distribution:
-
Positive: 12 out of 14
-
Mixed: 2 out of 14
-
Negative: 0 out of 14
-
The fourth and best-by-a-mile folk-rock album from sometime Shin Eric Johnson and his cud-chewing sidemen is a message to the freak-folk from "a broke-legged paint in a herd full of unicorns."
-
The album's affinity for traditional hooks, mixed with Johnson's ability to depart from the traditional makes this album one of the Fruit Bats most listenable and enjoyable.
-
Stripped of reference points, The Ruminant Band is an uncomplicated, easygoing success that suggests Johnson shouldn't get too busy to give Fruit Bats due attention.
-
FilterThe tunes are still catchy, head-bobbing and toe-tapping, a kind of summer soundtrack that brightens your mood even if it doesn't quite make you smile, and sometimes that's all an album needs to be. [Summer 2009, p.103]
-
All this means that Fruit Bats, like their contemporaries, could unfortunately be passed over due to sheer familiarity. That'd be a shame, because The Ruminant Band only gets more rewarding as it settles in.
-
The Ruminant Band is generally a happy affair, though, and cameo appearances by Califone's Tim Rutili and Jim Becker help chart the Fruit Bats' migration from bedroom side project to full-fledged band.
-
MojoMuch of The Ruminant Band comes sunny side up. [Sep 2009, p.90]
Score distribution:
-
Positive: 2 out of 2
-
Mixed: 0 out of 2
-
Negative: 0 out of 2
-
HelloH.Aug 11, 2009This is definitely the best Fruit Bats record thus far. I have always thought they had some great tunes, but now I feel like it's full-blown.
-
-
RyanS.Aug 15, 2009Another good one from Fruit Bats.
-