OK Jones

“I Am an Electric Bed” by OK Jones, from Elephantoms:

Though the band’s lineup changes like the weather, OK Jones frontman (and Pitch freelance writer) Richard Gintowt has remained a constant, carrying the group from its wobbly beginnings on 2004’s Middletown to the honed space-country atmospherics of Push/Pull (2005) and to making this year’s Elephantoms one of the finest albums to come out of Lawrence in years. The 11-song collection piles on track after shimmery track — each one dosed with Nate Holt’s keyboards and synth bass — and loses the distracting mood and rhythm changes that hindered Push/Pull. The Jones boys’ latest features intelligent, subtle tunes such as “K10,” a lithe, folksy number about the joys of a certain state highway, and “Old Rules,” a lament filtered through the woozy, lighthearted sensibilities of Yo La Tengo or My Morning Jacket. Elephantoms, a ripe crystallization of Gintowt and company’s previous efforts, represents a solid argument for the trio’s staying, well, a trio. See the three in action at OK Jones’ CD-release party, with the Republic Tigers and Shhh, Friday, March 23, at The Granada.