Try It Again (Independent)

The Gnomadics don’t seem like the kind of band that subscribes to the theory that less is more. Try It Again’s opening track, “Purple Flowers”, could easily have ended up a lazy-afternoon slice of soft-focus psychedelia, but the quartet throws all kinds of little diversions into the mix, including candy-swirled guitar tangents and power-pop drum builds. “Autobiography” initially seems like a heartland rocker from Asbury Park’s Stone Pony, but then hits the brakes with a folksy, off-kilter chorus and a godfather-of-grunge solo, while the title track is an unlikely marriage of vintage new wave, hoary pub rock, and swooping Americana.

Would a little bit of focus help tighten up Try It Again? The answer to that is probably yes. But given that the band calls itself the Gnomadics, there’s an equal case to be made that, somehow, all the musical wandering makes perfect sense.

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