Raleigh-based husband-and-wife duo the Rosebuds were once guileless enough to title their first album of singalong guitar pop The Rosebuds Make Out, and their third full-length is a makeout record, too — this time, for people who’ve actually gone all the way before. That is, it’s a blue-eyed disco record, all drum machines and snaking basslines, and softly wailing backing vocals layered atop moody sythscapes. At their best, the ‘Buds are confident enough in their new territory to add subtle flourishes: check, say, the straight-outta-the-house-of-jealous-lovers cowbell in ‘I Better Run’ and the string swells in (the actually quite similar) ‘Cemetery Lawns’ and ‘Get Up Get Out’. But the hooks and tricks smooth out around side two, as the album settles into a stream of genre workouts content to get the tone right and fade into the background. No matter — it’ll still make fine fodder for the forthcoming remix album (Portastic, Dean & Britta, and others are lined up), and the world can always use more makeout music.
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