• What: Guster, in concert.
• When: 8 p.m. Jan. 19.
• Where: McMenamins Crystal Ballroom, 1332 W. Burnside St., Portland.
• Cost: $33.70 through Ticketmaster, 800-745-3000 or http://ticketmaster.com.
• Information: 503-225-0047 or http://danceonair.com.
When Adam Gardner of Guster listens to his band’s new CD, “Easy Wonderful,” part of what he hears takes him back in time.
A big chunk of the new CD was recorded in 2009, which marked the 10th anniversary of “Lost and Gone Forever,” Guster’s third CD overall and first release on a major label. It’s the album that introduced a good number of the group’s fans to the group.
“We actually did a short tour, an anniversary tour, of ‘Lost and Gone Forever,’ and so we dug back into that record while in the middle of making this one,” said Gardner. “It was interesting to get back in there, and understand the spirit of what we had when we were 10 years younger and new to this and still all excited about being in the studio. I think that translated in a lot of ways (to ‘Easy Wonderful’).”
• What: Guster, in concert.
• When: 8 p.m. Jan. 19.
• Where: McMenamins Crystal Ballroom, 1332 W. Burnside St., Portland.
• Cost: $33.70 through Ticketmaster, 800-745-3000 or <a href="http://ticketmaster.com">http://ticketmaster.com</a>.
• Information: 503-225-0047 or <a href="http://danceonair.com">http://danceonair.com</a>.
But make no mistake: Guster has evolved considerably in the decade since. On “Lost and Gone Forever,” Guster was still an acoustic trio, using, for the most part, guitars and bongos. That changed in a major way on 2003’s “Keep It Together,” as drummer Brian Rosenworcel started to use a full drum kit and singer-multi-instrumentalist Gardner and guitarist-bassist-multi-instrumentalist Ryan Miller picked up electric instruments.
Guster is plugged in on much of “Easy Wonderful.” The band now records as a foursome with Joe Pisapia — who produces the band and plays guitar, keyboard and other instruments — in the studio. Another musician, Luke Reynolds, is in the touring lineup.
Still, the group’s signature easy-going, rootsy, pop sound is very much present on “Easy Wonderful.” But if anything, the sound is a bit sunnier than usual, as the band breezes through the snappy acoustic-based tune “This Could All Be Yours,” a rather muscular rocker called “Architects and Engineers,” several pleasant midtempo tunes (such as “Do You Love Me?” and “Bad Bad World”) and the occasional song that is a stylistic curveball (the electronic-tinged “Do What You Want”).
But even if “Easy Wonderful” feels like a natural successor to “Lost and Gone Forever,” “Get It Together” and the 2006 CD, “Ganging up on the Sun,” there’s also a feeling of continued progression and a renewed energy in the band.
Making the new CD, however, wasn’t as effortless as Guster’s music tends to sound.
Recording began after the group hooked up with producer David Kahne, whose many credits include albums by Paul McCartney and The Strokes.
The sessions with Kahne were initially very productive as the band zoomed through recording basic tracks for the CD.
But when it came to doing overdubs, the process bogged down, as the band and Kahne clashed on quite a few ideas for how to complete songs.
“Probably 70 percent of the time, we agreed with some idea that he (Kahne) had,” Gardner said. “But when we disagreed, it was bad news. It didn’t work, and it just got increasingly difficult as we were putting the finishing touches onto the recordings we were making with him.”
The band decided to finish the songs as best as it could with Kahne but was left feeling less than thrilled with the results.
So the band took a break to take stock of its work, and during this time, two events helped re-energize the band. One was a burst of creativity from Miller, who wrote a half-dozen complete songs to add to the batch that had been done with Kahne. The other was Pisapia’s completing his studio, where the band set up shop to finish “Easy Wonderful.”
“We also got our hands on the Kahne sessions. … When we were able to strip away the few overdubs that we didn’t agree with, we realized the bones of the songs were in good shape,” Gardner said. “We just needed to make sure they sounded like our band and not a David Kahne solo project.
“We were able to reclaim our music, and reclaim our band and our album,” he said. “We felt liberated and energized and excited to play together again, and start fresh in a lot of ways. And the material was great and uplifting.”
The renewed energy is carrying over to the touring side of Guster’s work. With Reynolds in place for the shows, the band is making a fresh start in a live setting.
“We’ve pretty much revamped up every part of our live sound, new guitar amp, new keyboard sounds, new drum set-up,” Gardner said. “It was the perfect time for us to re-evaluate everything we do live — the arrangements of the songs, integrating the new material. … We’re excited.”
