Who are these Fruit Bats, you ask? Well, singer/songwriter Eric Johnson is the core of the group; Dan Strack, who played guitar on one track on the previous album, Mouthfuls, is back again playing all sorts of stuff; and drummer John Byce make up the rest of the Fruit Bats. Not so much a band, more a temporary collective, I think.

That last Fruit Bats album, by the way, was awash in homage to both the Beach Boys and The Shins. Spelled In Bones has more fully assimilated those influences. It’s possible to listen to it all the way through without playing “Spot The Inspiration”. And while that can be kinda fun every now and again, it’s actually much less distracting this way.

Also gone are the trappings that sorta stuck the band in the Americana ghetto, aside from the banjo solo on “Canyon Girl” and the melancholy lap steel on “Born in the ‘70s”. Not that that aspect of their sound beat you over the head before, but now it’s just pure pop. The songs generally feature either acoustic guitar or piano (and sometimes both) over burbling and/or farting analog synth bass notes, with various bits of instrumentation (strings, E bow, etc.) here and there. I like the fact that the electronics are there merely as support, rather than driving the show. It makes for a pleasing sort of tension up against the acoustic instruments, if you follow me. Johnson’s voice reminds me a bit of that of Ken Stringfellow, which means that it’s pretty much perfectly suited for post-Beatle pop rock. So there’s that.

Lyrically, it’s much less overtly, uh, biblical this time around, too. The only reference to God (that I caught, anyway) is from the last verse of “Traveler’s Song”: “Down in the trench, when you find yourself in the tiger’s jaws / When the fire in your belly and piss & vinegar’s gone / God’s no better than you, just bigger is all”. I’m gonna write that out on a 3x5 card and tape it to the wall over my computer. Otherwise, it’s your standard wry musings on love (“Lives of Crime”, “The Earthquake of ‘73”, “Canyon Girl”) and existence (just about everything else, but especially the aforementioned “Traveler’s Song”, “The Legs of Bees”, “Spelled In Bones”, and “Every Day That We Wake Up It’s A Beautiful Day” – the title of that last one would surely give itself away, but I feel neglectful if I don’t mention these things). And love is nothing if not existential, in my experience, so let’s not pick nits here.

Tracks that stood out for me were “Lives of Crime” (opening track, massive earworm, and the song Sub Pop is allowing you to download) and the bummed-out beauty of “Born In The 70s”, which will very definitely be going on the next mix disc I make for friends. Really, though, the only weak cut is “TV Waves”, which just drags. One duff track out of 11 ain’t too bad, these days, and the innocuous charm and beauty of the remaining ten songs more than make up for it.

If you have no love for pop, I advise giving this CD a miss. If, however, you enjoy the Lindsay Buckingham tracks on Fleetwood Mac albums (in a non-ironic kind of way), then by all means pick up a copy for yourself and your loved ones. Pop goes well with summer, so as long as we have to endure this hellish weather we might as well listen to something nice while we roast. Yes?

(Fruit Bats’ Spelled In Bones is available through Sub Pop Records. You can hear a stream of the album here.)