Brookville: Life in the Shade

Opening with a great Coldplay knockoff called “Blue Morning”, Brookville’s second LP is nothing if not melodic. However, the simple strings, warm synth blankets, and hushed horns serve more as a generic-rock lullaby than a solid album. Sure, the modern-lounge sounds of “Nothing’s Meant to Last” and guitar/synth/horn sweep of “Golden” are fine songs, but the track-to-track differentiation gets vaguer as the album presses on. And at 59 minutes, Brookville centerpiece (and Ivy co-founder) Andy Chase’s generic-to-the-point-of-boredom lyrics really push the meaning of an album so-appropriately titled Life in the Shade. Without irony, the title track happens to be the worst lite-rock offender of the bunch. The Shade is nice, but it’s doubtful you’ll want to spend a lifetime in it (or even an hour, for that matter).