Travis Morrison Hellfighters -- All Y'all

7/10

After the negative feedback his debut album received, Travis Morrison returns with All Y'all, a second album that dials back the weird, and is just...fine. All Y'all feels like more of a natural continuation of Change, the last album released at this point by Morrison's previous band, The Dismemberment Plan, just with a slightly less fully formed sound. Morrison returns to his more smartly subtle lyrical style, the music has bounce again, and there's even some blippy Casio keyboards tossed into these fun, mostly good indie rock songs. The album's even got a nice flow, bouncing between upbeat rockers and more atmospheric and sensual tracks. My personal favorite is "East Side of the River."

So while All Y'all certainly doesn't remove the sting of The Dismemberment Plan's folding, it at least shows Morrison can have some success without them. Too bad we never got a third album.

2007 Barsuk
1. I'm Not Supposed to Like You (But) 2:03
2. As We Proceed 3:19
3. Catch Up 4:35
4. East Side of the River 3:25
5. I Do 3:24
6. Just Didn't Turn Me On 3:26
7. You Make Me Feel Like a Freak 4:28
8. Hawkins' Rock 3:56
9. Churchgoer 4:02
10. Book of Names 4:12
11. Saturday Night 4:59