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[FOLK ROCK] Forget the quiet, rainy-day Weinland of yesteryear. Within the first few measures of opening track "Bones Cracking In," the Portland band's fourth album, Los Processaur, deviates from the albums of melancholy folk that preceded it. With a decisive acoustic guitar strum and an enthusiastic "Woo!" distantly howled by frontman Adam Shearer, the band introduces a livelier rock-'n'-roll vibe along with an air of confidence that shouts, "It's about time we made this record!"
In the three years since Weinland's last release, Breaks in the Sun, the band's five members have spent time in various projects, such as Alialujah Choir, and toured with the Decemberists and Blitzen Trapper. When it came time to return to Type Foundry Studio to lay down some new tracks, Shearer and company could draw from a pool of fresh music-biz experience. In this sense, the sure-footed Los Processaur sounds like the product of readiness over timeliness.
Here's the catch: While strewn with multipart harmonies and call-and-response electric guitar and piano riffs, this is not an album of moments that instantly stand out. But give it some time. With each listen, Shearer's vocals grow weightier. Through his imperfect yet wholly expressive pipes come a sincerity that carries the entire album. In "Portland," Shearer sings, in a cracking timbre, "It rains 364 days a year here/ On the other day the weather's fine." While people in this city are notorious for grumbling over winter weather, the song seeps in deeper than expected. And with time, you'll find the rest of the album doing the same.
SEE IT: Weinland plays Mississippi Studios, 3939 N
Mississippi Ave., on Friday-Saturday, Oct. 26-27. 9 pm. $12. 21+.
WWeek 2015