Guster

Guster
Ganging Up on the Sun
(Reprise)
Casual listening might lump Guster with the nondescript rockish backing heard in some sunny screen trifle. Then the band’s imagery kicks in, revisiting high school in “One Man Wrecking Machine.” Add one hypnotic slide hook worthy of a classic. Like Cracker and NRBQ, Guster flex earthy American chops to make big ideas more pleasurable. The group began over a decade ago at Tufts University in Massachusetts, and somebody’s using his English degree. There’s a recurring sense of struggle to escape dreamlike bondage. Plotting ghosts, characters awaiting their fate…religions have been based on less, and you can dance to this.
—Doug Taylor