BringIt Back plugs into the best of Californian poptraditions, paying homage to everyone from The Beach Boys and The Turtles tomodern-day pace setters such as Spoon…arrangements are straightforward, leanand cut down to pop perfection. Indie pop, there’s a new heavy-hitter in theball game. Mates of State is its name.

[They] spruce up their cutesy indie pop withgrander melodies, gigglier choruses, and a wider variety of sounds.

The songs skirt the edge of cute, but Gardner and Hammel's forthrightness andskillful arrangement keep them from becoming too sugary.

Plucky,precious and sometimes cloying, their fourth album unfolds like a fussed-overvalentine.

... the album sports stronger songs, a fullersound, more emotional weight, and an exuberant soul that spills out of thespeakers like milk and cake at a kid's birthday party. It's hard to pinpointwhat makes this record more satisfying than the rest of their excellent backcatalog. Perhaps it is the reliance on more piano than usual, maybe the richervocals of Gardner,maybe the punchy and powerful production from BillRacine, or that the band has added some guitar and bass to their sound.It's a combination of all that, but most of all it's the number of memorable songs, which count among some of thebest of their career.