Racy

Hooray For Earth is a pop band at heart, which is evident in their flair for anthemic choruses that warmly invites listeners to sing along. In the past, as heard on Momo,True Loves and Never/Figure, their music was infused with oddly-chosen instrumentation (tribal drums, alien howls, distorted percussion, etc) which made their songs as strange as they were beautiful. I felt this is what made HFE so thrilling, so adventurous. On Racy the quality songwriting is mostly intact, but is tempered somewhat with instrumentation that is less ornate and even at times somewhat conventional than what I've come to expect. I think that is where this album falls a bit short in my estimation, but also in that a few of the songs aren't as immediately memorable as their best work.I do dearly love this band (True Loves is my favorite release of 2011), so I am willing to be patient and give time for this music to work its charm with repeated listens. For now it still stands as a worthy addition to the band's body of work. A definite must-buy for HFE fans, but newcomers might want to check out other entry points for a more impactful introduction.Top 3 Favorite songs: "Keys", "Say Enough", "Airs"UPDATE (11/26): In the time since the initial review, songs that did not appeal to me on early listens have since become new favorites. I am not altering the text above this update as some of the points above I feel are valid, but it is enough to earn it a rating of at least 3.5 (of which I will round up to four for the final count).