[06.03] This disc was such a welcome arrival in my mailbox. For the last few years, I've fretted that Greg and Thom Moore don't reach the large audience they deserve. These California natives have had several bands and solo ventures. And each time a new Moore-fronted project would appear, it would implode after one album and relaunch under a new name. I wondered if they were consciously trying to limit their following to only the most devoted cultists.

Thankfully, Scott Kannberg (PSOI, ex-Pavement) and the guys from Oranger threw some money behind the Moores a few years ago by signing them to Amazing Grease. The first release under the brand-new "Moore Brothers" moniker was 2001's Colossal Small. It was a flawed album—inconsistent, eclectic to a fault, poorly sung, and generally not up to the Moores' usual melodic standards.

So imagine my relief when the new Moore Brothers disc turns out to be…good. Really good. Beautiful, even. On & Out has more melancholy, slow songs than previous outings, and these are great settings for the plaintive, pure tones of the brothers' voices. Given their short-attention-span style of songwriting, the slower paces make their abrupt transitions seem less erratic and schizophrenic. (I love their flips and zags, but I've watched other listeners squint in discomfort and confusion.)

It's far from Sadville throughout, though, as the Moores' absurd humor is sharper than ever. "You Open My Eyes" is a deft and dry tale of falling in love with a Republican girl: "I never knew why I should hate the Haitians, grenade the Grenadians, invade the Afghanis—but you showed me this was my destiny." A long-performed feature from their live show, "The Puppet," is the only song here that the brothers co-wrote, and it shares a similar wit.

Musically, there are some changes afoot:

1. Greg and Thom have started writing reggae bridges, and On & Out has a few of them—and yes, I flinched when I heard that, too, but they manage to pull it off without sounding like tourists or wannabe rastas. It works.


2. "Salton Sea" rocks harder than they have ever rocked, with a fist-grip riff and some first-rate Keith Mooning by new drummer Andrew Borger (Norah Jones, Tom Waits). At five minutes of length, it's an epic by Thom's standards, and the gamble pays off.


3. "Emotional Rollercoaster" sounds like it has some sequenced percussion trickery burbling underneath the surface. Along with it, Borger's delicious brush work on the snare makes for the most interesting and original texture they've ever had down on tape. The lyrics are the weakest of the album, but that texture's a standout.

The moral of the story is this: The Moore Brothers are best when they have a full-time rhythm section. Bassist Jon Erickson (who also produced) and Borger make the Moores' songs cohere. It's their presence that makes On & Out work so well, and I hope they stick around for the next album or three.

(I also hope that Amazing Grease re-issues the self-titled Thumb of the Maid album that Deaf Khan put out in 1998. It was the Moores with a similarly great rhythm section. OK, enough lobbying.) —Kevin Seal