Gomez

For How We Operate, their fifth studio album, Gomez didn't set out to reinvent the wheel. Oh no. The British quintet just wanted to change the blueprint for a different sort of rounded object: Their own records.

Gomez -- which also features Ian Ball (vocals, guitar, harmonica), Paul Blackburn (bass, guitar), and Olly Peacock (drums) -- have been playing together for a decade now; they celebrate the tenth anniversary of their first gig in October, 2006. But their friendships date back even further; Ian and Olly have been friends since they were still in short pants, while the rest of the lads rallied around as the duo progressed through academia. Drawing on their disparate tastes, which ranged from Nirvana to Woody Guthrie, Motown singles to barbershop quartets, they honed a one-of-a-kind sound that incorporated all their influences around their shared point of reference: A deep, abiding love for creative music of all stripes.

To help focus their energies on their first studio release for ATO, the band decided to try a wholly new tack, and enlist their first outside producer. When Gil Norton (Pixies, Foo Fighters) was named as a candidate, Gray leapt at the suggestion. "I've been a crazy, huge Pixies fan my entire life, since I was thirteen," he gushes. Others required more convincing. "Back when Tom was listening to the Pixies, I was heavy into Slayer," confesses Ball. Fortunately, they soon found a common point of interest: A shared passion for Liverpool's Everton football club.

On the opening "Notice," brushed snares and an elastic bass line gently anchor a swelling melody; moments of silence punctuate the building momentum, and vibrant vocal harmonies blossom as the song unfolds. With its sing-along chorus and discrete hints of Appalachia, the jaunty "See The World" ("a distant cousin of 'Ooh-La-La' by the Faces," admits Gray, its author) is a buoyant ditty in search of a sunny day and a vintage convertible, a welcome affirmation that the words "pop" and "integrity" are not mutually exclusive.

Keep listening. Scrutinize the spacey, almost psychedelic title track closely, and the advantages of the band's judicious new approach to arrangements are evident. "Girlshapedlovedrug" is a beguiling portrait of "a wicked girl... the worst in the world..." who still proves irresistible to the narrator, while elsewhere, the bluesy "Chasing Ghosts With Alcohol" and the twilight reverie of "Charley Patton Songs" find Gomez in a more reflective mood.

"There's always been a certain ragged glory to Gomez, " concludes Gray. And How We Operate retains and revitalizes that glory -- and presents it in a more immediately gripping form. "This is certainly the most cohesive record we've made," observes Ball. "And yet it remains stylistically genre-less." Which is to say, it's still brilliantly, unabashedly... Gomez.