#the loft

Badges, then, fits very well on the continuum that spans first-run Loft singles, Astor solo material and the last previous Loft album. That is to say that it is warm, nostalgic, cleverly worded and skillfully delivered. It delves into the past, not just that of Astor (and bandmates Andy Strickland, Bill Prince and Dave Morgan). No, it goes further, into 1960s garage and Nuggets psychedelia in musical terms and lyrically, past youth and childhood to the swooning romanticism of “1955,” Astor’s ode to his parents. Here as guitars chime and cymbals shimmer, we glimpse a lost world, a local dance at mid-century: “When your father crossed the room, in his brand new suit and tie, and the band started up, and your mother caught his eye.” 

These are very well-made pop songs, concise and evocative and infectious. They are ambivalent in mood with bright hooks balancing disconsolate lyrics, and perceptive about middle-aged, middle-class life. We can instantly envision the disappointments and delusions of the “Sad Comedian” and the appeal of escaping, however briefly, via a freewheeling “Campervan.” You might need to be a certain age to appreciate the pathos. 

And yet there’s also joy in the boisterous rock arrangements, the rowdy drums, the ringing chords, the well-turned ironic phrase. However much they miss the world as it was, members of the Loft sound very glad to be here, making music that’s as good as anything they’ve done. Here’s to long-lost might-have-beens who emerge from the woodwork ready to get back to work.