Style: Quirky indie rock; compare to Deerhoof, The Welcome Wagon, Half Handed Cloud
Top tracks: “You Sleep Good Now,” “This Day Is a Loaf,” “Lil Norge”
Best of Gloucester County is Danielson’s most accessible release to date. Frontman Daniel Smith has embraced the virtue of restraint, improving his already seminal gospel-indie-pop repertoire. What was discordant clatter 17 years ago now sounds like artfully developed composition. On “Grow Up” Smith sings of his maturity, “My social life’s gone and I’m mowing my lawn / When I should be up on that stage, with the glitz and my rage.” Not unlike the very trajectory of Danielson, Best of Gloucester County is quirky initially, but calms down midway through, hushing ever quieter until a most satisfying end.
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