Parts & Labor: Receivers

The first two tracks on Parts & Labor's latest

should put to rest any worries about how the departure of drummer Christopher

Weingarten might affect the band's collective intensity: There'll be no

stronger opening salvo on any album this year than the one-two punch of "Satellites"

and "Nowheres Nigh." Wisely, the band doesn't seek to replicate the aesthetic

of last year's Mapmaker, a record propelled largely by Weingarten's explosive

drumming. Instead, Receivers finds the band slowing down the tempo and more

fully exploring the textures and nuances of its dense, multi-layered

soundscapes. The approach leads directly toward more accessible songwriting and

musical populism: Receivers comes off like a collection of folk songs for the

post-industrial age, complete with lyrics about machines that no longer

produce, but only serve to keep a constant watch. Strangely, such a realization

proves liberating for Parts & Labor. If you're being watched all the time,

the band seems to ask, why not make something both beautiful and inspiring