Central Falls

Like Gomez on Nyquil, on Love and Easy Living, Central Falls turn lazy roots rock into an art. The key to their success is that unlike a lot of other laidback albums, Love and Easy Living avoids an abundance of wallowing and sad ass-isms. Their songs move in a "Sunshine on my shoulder makes me happy” kind of way, while somehow avoiding that coming off sappy. It’s that balance of emotionally buoyant tunes with their medicated melancholy delivery that keeps this album relevant in an overdone medium. The album, as a whole, flows with a geriatric placidity, providing more than enough variation to keep it from fading into irrelevance. The only real problem with the disc is the artwork. It makes it look like a church group’s Neil Diamond tribute album.