Matt Adams could easily be a long lost brother of the Elephant Six crew, sounding like he stepped straight out of the sixties: among the many influences that combine to make Landfair what it is, aside from the Elephant Six sound: I hear some Velvets, my roommate hears some Kinks and then there's probably some Smiley Smile thrown in there too. The sound is charming and homespun, acoustic guitars and rag-tag clapping percussion backup Adam's humbly mellow voice.
At his best Adams set his cute and harmless love song lyrics to very well crafted pop melodies. And given the unusually long length of this collection, it's remarkable how much really great stuff there is here. At 23 songs , there are bound to be a number of throwaways – Landfair is consistently enjoyable from start to finish but there are definitely those tracks that, less catchy and instantly accessible, could have been left off in the interest of keeping it short and sweet.
The Blank Tapes's Landfair is an easygoing album with an instantly likeable, homemade quality that will appeal to fans of sixties-inspired pop music. Recommended for fans of Page France, Of Montreal, Marshmallow Coast, Elephant Six, Smiley Smile and other sixties and neo-sixties sounds.
