CD of The Week

The Rentals - Lost In Alphaville (Polyvinyl)

The Rentals was originally the solo/side project of ex-Weezer bassist Matt Sharp. Scoring a hit in 1995 with the kitchy “Friends Of P,” The Rentals returned in 1999 with the sadly overlooked Seven More Minutes. Sharp left Weezer, then put The Rentals on ice for years, but brought them back for 2007’s outstanding Last Little Life EP. Since then, Sharp and his revolving supporting cast have been mostly under the radar. In 2009, the Rentals attempted an ambitious project called Songs About Time: a three-part collection of EPs, photographs and short films that were all compiled as a box set. The “new” Rentals album, only the their third full-length release, is Lost In Alphaville, which finds Sharp re-visiting and re-recording a number of tunes that were originally heard on Songs About Time, with an all-star backing band.

That backing band in question features Patrick Carney of The Black Keys on drums, plus Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig of Lucius contributing vocals throughout. (Ryen Slegr of Weezer pals Ozma and longtime Rental Lauren Chipman fill out the lineup.) If you’re familiar with The Rentals’ previous work, these new players help Sharp keep the template in place: Moog keyboard sounds, mid-tempo indie pop tunes and tons of harmonizing female vocals as a counterpoint to Sharp’s voice. Buzzy tunes like lead single “Thought Of Sound,” “Traces Of Our Tears” and the stately “Stardust” are right in The Rentals’ wheelhouse, while the hooky “1000 Seasons” is easily a highlight. Lyrically, Sharp is revisiting his European stomping grounds that inspired Seven More Minutes, but now older and wiser.

The Rentals aren’t breaking new ground on Lost In Alphaville (and not just because these aren’t technically new songs) but Sharp created such a winning formula from the start, and have such a small catalog of songs, why mess with it? The Rentals return to Philly for their first show here in seven years on September 25th at Union Transfer.
Review by Joey O.