There is something far too deceptively simple about The Long Winters. Take some guitars, write some songs, add some harmony and a full band, and you have music to record. Record that music and release a CD of these 'pop' songs, and you have yourself a career. Should it really be this easy? Doesn't there need to be some drama, like band members attempting to kill each other with butter knives while debating a running order for the final cut? Lawsuits, televisions thrown out of hotel windows, egos the size of San Diego, or revolving circular beds with 20 groupies? As it is, there doesn't seem to be any of that surrounding John Roderick's Long Winters, which is both their strength and their weakness.
In terms of strength, Putting The Days To Bed continues with the momentum created by the group's previous two albums, adding some additional instrumentation (such as little electronic beats) and furthering Roderick's already solid songwriting. The man knows his way around a pop hook; take a track like "Teaspoon" or "Sky Is Open," the latter of which almost rivals the unforgettable melody of When I Pretend To Fall's "Cinnamon." This is perfect music for fun-loving, late teen-aged Californians, full of sunshine and “la-la-la”s.
Even though Days To Bed is littered with the sort of tunes that indie pop fans obsessively search for, it suffers the same fate as the group's previous releases. By the time you reach the final 25% of the album, you're more than ready to go to bed -- and not in a good way. The immediacy of The Long Winters' songs tends to reduce the listener’s attention span for the less immediate material. This doesn't mean that the tunes are bad; in fact, all of their songs are very well-written.
Perhaps another factor in this problem is the McCartney-esque vagueness to the lyrical content. Roderick's words never seem to stray far from relatively ambiguous references, even when they seem as though they might be personal. There is also a surprising lack of melancholy to his tunes; the saddest song of the bunch is "Seven," which is still boppier than a bag of Pop Rocks in your cheek. This is where the group differs from fellow (ahem) 'indie' poppers such as Death Cab For Cutie or Nada Surf, which makes the music slightly less believable, and, ultimately, slightly less interesting.
That said, The Long Winters have made a very good pop record in Putting The Days To Bed. It may not feature field recordings or the sounds of sheet metal scraping together as we here at TMT adore so much, but it's certainly a worthwhile listen. Perhaps when the group tours next, Roderick should throw a television or two at his bandmates to inspire a little bit of artistic tension. Maybe then we could squeeze an unforgettable record out of them.