Cabaret

Moon Taxi's second studio album makes it clear that the Nashville quintet is comfortable growing beyond the jam-band tag it earned in its early days. This collection is diverse yet cohesive; it sees the band's jammy roots reaching out to indie folk and pop territory in unique and invigorating ways. Rippling banjos, funky keyboards, a Vocoder cameo, crowd chants (from a street demonstration), and reverbed, billowing choruses are a few of the flourishes here. Trevor Terndrup's soulful, sun-warmed vocals are more enticing than ever. There's pure gold in the funk guitar riffs and double-tracked leads on "Whiskey Sunsets," the clattering Vampire Weekend–esque polyrhythms on "Square Circles" (throwing down even more flavor with rap/reggae artist Matisyahu on board), and the bright, prog-tinged psych-rock on "Pennies." "Mercury" and "Radio" are hands-in-the-air tunes that should boom from radios and music festivals everywhere.