Fight Softly

The Ruby Suns' immensely likeable second album Sea Lion was a marvelous blend of musical travelogue and modern-day psychedelia, fusing the current hipster taste for African and South American influences with a charmingly ramshackle vibe that recalled a number of similarly expansive acts (most notably Animal Collective, Olivia Tremor Control and the High Llamas) without actually sounding much like any of them. California-born, New Zealand-based polymath Ryan McPhun and his ever-shifting group of collaborators should be commended for not attempting Sea Lion Part II, but Fight Softly dials back on some of that album's more appealing elements, shifting the musical balance away from shimmering guitars, tight-knit harmonies and hypnotic percussion into Boards of Canada-style electronics and standard-issue canned beats. More damagingly, McPhun radically alters his vocal style here, losing Sea Lion's breathy near-whisper for a more mannered delivery that becomes grating even over the course of this relatively brief album. None of which is to say that Fight Softly is a terrible album or anything -- if anything, McPhun shows a better ear for concise songcraft on tracks like "Closet Astrologer" and "How Kids Fail" -- but after such a promising predecessor, it's still a bit disappointing.