Drinking In the Moonlight

New Radiant Storm King have been only sporadically productive in recent years, mostly due to other commitments among the group's members, so it's good news for fans that just a bit over two years after The Steady Hand, NRSK are back with their eighth album, Drinking in the Moonlight, and judging from this music the band is not only productive, they're working near the top of their game. Drinking in the Moonlight is full of the clever pop hooks that have always dominated NRSK's music along with a healthy portion of top-notch guitar work from Peyton Pinkerton and Matt Hunter, but there's an energy, drive, and freshness in these performances that belies a group that's been together since 1991, and both the melodies and the production (by Mark Alan Miller and the band) are muscular and effective. Pinkerton and Hunter, accompanied by bassist Caleb Wetmore and drummer J.J. O'Connell, have overdubbed the arrangements into something with a grand air, but the gingerbread doesn't weigh down the music, and the brisk, purposeful sound of the performances make this one of NRSK's most engaging albums to date. The roaring opening track "Soporific Slump," the edgy "Eight Steps Closer," the Beatlesesque "Fall Prey," the big guitars of "Eraser," and the gracefully tuneful "Little Ice Age" are the highlights on Drinking in the Moonlight, but all 13 tracks on this album are smart and effective stuff, and Drinking in the Moonlight confirms that New Radiant Storm King's command of the poppy side of indie rock has only grown stronger with the passage of time.