Pitchfork

CVB frontman David Lowery has openly stated that the band didn't set out to make an album that ignored the last 15 years of their careers, so it's only fitting that the first line Lowery sings on New Roman Times is "I've been through all kinds of changes." For anyone expecting a sequel to their favorite 80s Camper Van album, "51-7" offers an ultimatum: Revise your expectations or be disappointed.

Those expectations aside, "51-7" is a glorious reintroduction to what made CVB so damned loveable in the first place. Leaning closer to alt-country than alt-folk, the track alternates between subdued, driving verses and bouncy, triumphant choruses. The verses are vaguely reminiscent of 1986's "Ambiguity Song", but with dirtier guitars and production much crisper and drier than anything on Telephone Free Landslide Victory. Lowery's voice is right up front, and his characteristic oddball lyrics and nonlinear rhyme schemes are preserved intact.

Most grin-worthy, though, are the sing-along choruses. Jonathan Segel's violin remains an identifying instrument for CVB, and it weaves its way through the choruses, switching from upbeat and jubilant to nostalgic, haunting, and weary at the drop of a straw hat. "51-7" showcases just one of a plethora of styles the album hits, but it's most successful in that it feels natural. It never tries too hard to sound like something it's not, a major component of Camper Van Beethoven's enduring charm.