Spelled in Bones (Dig)

Fruit Bats | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 26, 2005)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sub Pop
• ASIN: B0009W5KCC
• In-Print Editions: Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #160,038 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Here's an awesome album for floating around back country roads in an old Volvo station wagon. This is folk-based pop music that's meditative, fun, and deliriously repetitive. If you've never heard the Fruit Bats, imagine a less ambitious version of the Shins, a well-worn copy of American Beauty replacing Seventeen Seconds on the turntable, and you're pretty close. If you're a devotee, you should know that Gillian Lisee is not on this record. In her stead we have Dan Strack, who played with principal singer-songwriter Eric Johnson in the poorly named but excellent band I, Rowboat. Spelled is a minor shift towards bigger things: the themes are more cosmic and the music sounds less like the product of bedroom strumming than before. "Earthquake of '73," "Lives of Crims" and "Born in the ‘70s" – these are big, beautiful, elegiac songs. Stick ‘em in a popular romantic comedy and watch this band become household names. –Mike McGonigal

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sweet and full of hope, October 31, 2006

By 

TRACY O'BRIEN (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Spelled in Bones (Dig) (Audio CD)

This CD manufactures feelings reminiscent of my youth. Its honesty reminds me of my teen years, full of curiosity, in my room listening to The Smiths or The Damned. There is something more striking about this CD too, as if they know exactly what and where we end up. I hum Born in the '70s during meetings, putting a sweet spring in my step.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the more I listen, the more I want to listen, September 24, 2005

By 

Henry W. Kastler (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Spelled in Bones (Dig) (Audio CD)

Good feeling, catchy melodies and harmonies with folky, psychedelic lyrics. Lots of acoustic guitar, always a plus. But there are a lot of different instruments on this record. The sum is greater than the parts. The album sounds familiar and new at the same time. It really is a new kind of pop music.

I haven't heard either the Shins or Califone, so I'll compare Fruit Bats to the Beatles, Kinks, Velvet Underground, maybe even early, pre-ambient Brian Eno. It's great music!

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars good to the last drop, September 10, 2005

By 

J. LEFAN - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Spelled in Bones (Dig) (Audio CD)

shades of the shins and belle and sebastian, wrapped in college radio fresh seal packaging. i found several tracks overly forlorn, but overall quite catchy. starts and finishes very strong, with a rollercoaster ride of content, theme, and tempo throughout. GREAT ALBUM!