The Ruminant Band

Sub Pop veteran Eric Johnson makes AM Gold fresh again by filtering his own spirit through a cast of characters.

Considering that frontman Eric Johnson joined The Shins in 2007, and judging by the Chutes Too Narrow-esque cover art of the new The Ruminant Band, it might be sensible to worry that Fruit Bats have become a full-on Shins derivative. But the record—the group’s first since 2005’s Spelled In Bones—thankfully takes huge…

Fruit Bats - The Ruminant Band review: With The Ruminant Band, the Fruit Bats have again created a record of many disparate angles, Johnson’s viewpoint on the past forty years of music chewed and re-chewed into a distinctly Fruit Bats release.<script src=