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The New Year, ‘The New Year’ (Touch and Go)

Over the lullaby guitars of “Wages of Sleep,” brothers Matt and Bubba Kadane recommend that “eight hours of sleep can make anything go away.” And nearly every song on the New Year’s third record nudges the listener toward slumber, whether at a gentle loping pace (“MMV”) or with a circular melody (“Seven Days and Seven Nights”). Key elements — shy vocals, shimmery guitar — remain from the Kadanes’ previous band, slow-core pioneers Bedhead, though Matt now actually enunciates the band’s diary entries. Songs that build so gradually always gravitate toward reflection, and only brief moments of self-loathing spur any dynamic shifts; eventually, they (or you) will drift off once again.

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