Guster

Back in their early years, Guster were one of those "quirky” acts who were notable because they used twin acoustic guitars and a bongo set. Over the last decade, they’ve slowly evolved as a band and Keep It Together finds them finally moving beyond their past and coming together as a fully-fledged band without a quirk in sight. And in a strange way, they’ve lost a lot of their own personality by becoming like a lot of other bands. That doesn’t mean that they’ve lost their knack for writing sunny pop songs that will sound just fine on the radio but those songs are just going to blend in easily with all the others. The mood is happy on every single song, even ones concerned with failed relationships and things that might even be sad to lesser bands. Ben Kweller shows up on one song, but even his presence can’t shake the overall similarities that permeate every song. Keep It Together is the kind of album that will keep Guster’s existing fans happy, but probably won’t do a whole lot to win them too many more.