Reviewed :: BOAT - Dress Like Your Idols

Seattle's self proclaimed sloppy pop outfit, Boat return with their fourth full length, Dress Your Idols. The album is set to be released on March 22nd on the band's long time label, Portland, OR based Magic Marker Records. Dress Like Your Idols picks up where 2009's Setting The Paces left off. A bit of polish has been applied to D. Crane's catchy as hell pop songs due to Boat recording at (the now defunct) Two Sticks Audio in the bands home town. This marks the first time the band have balanced their tried and true method of recording at home with the benefits of professional studio tools. Well, after this they might have to abandon that sloppy pop tag, because Dress Like Your Idols is filled with perfectly executed and irresistible pop moments, with the bands signature tongue and cheek wit intact.

It's on tracks, Bite My Lips, Forever In Armitron, and the John Roderick (The Long Winters) guested Landlocked that Boat deliver on the promise of their previous recordings, and then some. These are fully realized and instantly addicting pop nuggets that have us reaching for this LP on a nearly daily basis. Elsewhere the band shines on home recordings such as, Water it Down ,which provide charming and albeit brief interludes that assist in the flow and superb sequencing of Dress Like Your Idols.

Not only have Boat achieved the dubious task of following up a high water mark album like Setting The Paces, they've managed to surpass it. Albums about love, girls, and idols aren't supposed to be so consistently rewarding, but Dress Like Your Idols isn't just another indie pop record. Far from it.

BOAT - (I'll Beat My Chest Like) King KongBOAT -