Fruit Bats made a record that sounds exactly like what it is: a full-fledged band playing pop music without the noise. Spelled in Bones is a clean, polished set of songs built for radio and quiet reflection, and it knows it. The problem is that polish can feel like a cover for a lack of ideas. This is a record about comfort, and comfort is rarely where great records live.
The band trades the rough edges of earlier work for a smooth, melodic sound that leans heavily on acoustic guitars and warm, layered vocals. There is no fuzz, no distortion, no drums that hit hard. Instead there is a sheen, a gloss that turns the whole thing into something pleasant without ever becoming interesting. It is a record that wants to be easy to listen to, and mostly succeeds, but at a cost.
Opening With Crime and Silence
The record opens with “Lives of Crime,” a track that sets the tone immediately: clean, melodic, and unapologetically straightforward. It is not a bad song, but it is a safe one, and it signals what comes next. “Silent Life” follows, a quieter, more reflective piece that shows off the band’s ability to build atmosphere with minimal instrumentation. Both tracks are solid, but neither demands attention.
“TV Waves” picks the pace back up with a more driving rhythm, though the production remains the same glossy surface. “Canyon Girl” is a slight change of pace, tighter and more compact, but it still fits snugly within the album’s overall sound. “Born in the 70’s” slows things down again, a gentle, nostalgic piece that leans on melody over anything else.
Fruit Bats, not so much; they traffic in power-pop without the crunch and speed.
“Legs of Bees” is where the record starts to show its ambition, a track that reaches for something bigger than the surrounding material. It is the longest song on the record and the most textured, with a fuller arrangement that suggests the band wanted to push past the limits of their own sound. It does not fully succeed, but it is the closest the album comes to being genuinely exciting.
“The Earthquake of ’73” is a brief, atmospheric interlude that does little more than fill space. It is pleasant, but it lacks substance. “Traveler’s Song” picks the pace back up with a more urgent feel, though the production remains unchanged. “The Wind That Blew My Heart Away” is a return to the quiet, reflective mode, a gentle ballad that does not add much to what came before it.
The Title Track and the Close
“Spelled in Bones” is the title track, and it is a strong one, the most accomplished moment on the record. It has a sense of weight that the surrounding material lacks, a feeling of purpose that the other tracks only hint at. It is the kind of song that could have carried the whole album if it had been surrounded by better material.
“Everyday That We Wake Up It’s a Beautiful Day” closes the record on a note of optimism, a gentle, uplifting ending that ties everything together without resolving anything. It is a nice way to end, but it feels like a conclusion that never quite arrives.
What the Critics Heard
Critics largely dismissed Spelled in Bones as overly polished and bland, noting its lack of sonic adventurousness and calling it “the output of a full-fledged band.” The complaints were consistent: critics wanted more guitar, more noise, more personality. They wanted a band that sounded like it was trying harder.
One critic asked where the tumescent guitar peals, the reverb-drowned vocals, and the bombastic drums were. Another noted that the record does not achieve the synthesis between Rounders and Rumours, but does successfully update arena fro-yo by excising the coke-fed navel-gazing. These are fair points. The album is competent, but it is also cautious, and caution is not a virtue in rock music.
Final Word
Spelled in Bones is a record that knows what it is doing, and it does it well. It is not a bad album, but it is a limited one. The best songs — “Spelled in Bones” and “Legs of Bees” — show what the band can do when they stop worrying about sounding safe. The rest of the record is pleasant, but it is pleasant without being memorable.
This is a record that will appeal to listeners who want comfort without complication. It is not a record that will reward repeated listens, and it is not a record that will change anyone’s mind about what pop music can be. It is a record that does what it sets out to do, and does it with skill, but without much fire.
The band has made better records, and they have made worse ones too. This one sits somewhere in the middle, a competent entry in a career that has produced both highs and lows. It is a record that deserves credit for what it is, but it is not a record that deserves much more.
- Lives of Crime3:54
- Silent Life3:13
- TV Waves3:44
- Canyon Girl2:42
- Born in the 70's3:09
- Legs of Bees4:03
- The Earthquake of '733:21
- Traveler's Song2:49
- The Wind That Blew My Heart Away2:44
- Spelled in Bones3:45
- Everyday That We Wake Up It's a Beautiful Day2:26
