THE JAYHAWKS - Paging Mr. Proust

Reliable and timeless, it's easy to take a band like the Jayhawks for granted. So let's not make that mistake, people! Paging Mr. Proust is both vintage Jayhawks and something a little new — a work that appeases and surprises the faithful in equal measure.

"The Jayhawks’ ninth record Paging Mr. Proust opens with one of the best songs the band has ever released, “Quiet Corners & Empty Spaces”. It’s the kind of song that, nearly 30 years into his influential career, one might presume that Gary Louris could knock out in his sleep. It contains all of the beloved, defining elements of the band: the plaintive lyrical introduction, shimmering folk-country guitars, and soaring harmonies, all of it anchored by Marc Perlman’s loping, confident bassline. If Louris were to create a paint-by-numbers system that churned out nine more of these in sequence and call it an album, I’m not sure there’d be much to complain about. The patented Jayhawks sound is just that good. 

But there is no painting by numbers here. Rather, Paging Mr. Proust might be the band’s most adventurous collection of songs to date. On it, Louris proves he is a songwriter devoted to adding new ideas and sounds to his creative palette. Joined by longtime collaborators Perlman, Karen Grotberg, and Tim O’Reagan and produced at turns by Louris, Peter Buck, and Tucker Martine, that sonic adventurousness might, ironically, lend longtime listeners attuned to the familiar cause for complaint. The new sounds can seem jarring at first listen, but quickly reveal common ground with the band’s contemporaries. “Lost the Summer” evokes Monster-era R.E.M. while “Comeback Kids” harkens to Wilco’s mix of electronica with Americana. “Ace” is the album’s deepest outlier from the classic Jayhawks sound, with its extended, feedback-drenched guitar jam that sounds more like an out-take from a Dream Syndicate record. Nonetheless, the dozen cuts here flow in an almost seamless sequence, and the album fits confidently into the band’s canon." - PopMatters