Gomez
Whatever’s On Your Mind
(ATO Records)

Whatever’s on Your Mind is the seventh studio album from English quintet Gomez. The band used the now-commonplace digital format to record the album, writing and contributing independently and then sharing their work online. Members also collaborated with Sam Farrar of Phantom Planet.

The album opens with “Options,” an acoustic and saxophone-filled track that is probably the best on the album next to the title track. “Whatever’s on Your Mind” stands out as it uniquely uses violin, which is rare for Gomez.

The indie-rockers have been around for about fifteen years, and certainly deserve the attention. However, this album seems somewhat generic by the band’s standards. Yes, pop can be good, but only in minute doses and preferably with some drowning guitar and pounding percussion. Even the most mainstream of pop artists try to put their own, original touch on the lyrics, but we’ve heard all these words before.

That’s not to say this ten-track effort is a flop, as it certainly will appease the auditory senses, but only in the way of being music that you don’t have to really listen to while you’re listening to it, if that makes sense. Sure, there are undertones of folk and electronica, but not enough to truly discern this album as better than any of their former works, not to mention the majority of music on the market today.

Perhaps with several gifted vocalists in the mix, one has to set the bar higher in terms of the music associated with these voices.