Tapes 'n Tapes - Minneapolis's rags-to-riches rock boys - return to their comfort zone of clanging riffs and Jim James echo-y vocals on their second album, Walk It Off. While it took them the better part of three years to cook up a sophomore effort, the album neither evolves sonically from nor stumbles upon the ramshackle success of its predecessor, The Loon. Nonetheless, the band is good enough at combining off-kilter chords and lazy, punchy vocals to come up with something useful.
Walk It Off's early tracks find the group having more fun than ever before, as seen through their simplicity and bluntness. Ballads are direct and to the point. Lead single "Hang Them All" wastes no time in getting straight to a chorus sing-along. Similar antics ensue in the pounding "Headshock" and opener "Le Ruse," providing an entirely harmless, if not forgettable, Saturday afternoon soundtrack.
Where the disc takes a surprising turn is at "George Michael," a blatant rip of Radiohead's "The Tourist." Josh Grier's slow, haunting vocals and Matt Kretzman's keyboard provide a new, unsettling sound for the band. "Anvil," a possible Loon session throwback, explores realms darker than those of the first part of the disc. "Lines," perhaps the disc's best and most mature song, is a shoegaze anthem the band would do well to imitate structurally in the future.
Whether or not Tapes 'n Tapes viewed these three songs as throwaway tracks to tack on the album's end is unclear, but they provide a refreshing break from an album-and-a-half of somewhat accidental success. Tapes 'n Tapes will be fine churning out more albums like Walk It Off in the future; their purpose, as well as their artistic merit, however, will diminish in doing so.
