New York – “Reconciling my conception of adulthood with actual adulthood,” reads the Bandcamp epigraph for Gilded Oldies, the new album from Seattle’s Cataldo. Gilded Oldies is the fourth album from the band, fronted always by earnest lyricist and core member Eric Anderson. With Anderson reaching the end of his twenties, it makes sense for Gilded Oldies to be the most “adult” record in the Cataldo canon. What we might not expect, however, is that Gilded Oldies is also the most fun.

Though always a folk-pop songwriter, what makes Anderson unique is that when he puts on his serious face, the emphasis falls on the pop rather than the folk. In a transformation similar to that of Minneapolis’ Caroline Smith between her 2011 heart-on-sleeve Little Wind and 2013’s deliciously slinky, R&B- tinged Half About Being a Woman, Anderson tackles major lyrical themes while also arriving at a downright danceable sound. Gilded Oldies is entirely devoid of the rough edges that characterized Anderson’s achingly sincere folk records; instead, the production on the new record so smooth and careful that comparisons to Vampire Weekend’s Modern Vampires of the City would be far from unwarranted.

In the press release for Gilded Oldies, Anderson describes a conversation with his housemate in which he had a realization: his plans for the fourth Cataldo album were “sensible,” but they were in no way what he actually wanted. Confronted with the question, “what do you want to do?”, Anderson eventually arrived at an enlightening answer: “Whatever the fuck I want.” Gilded Oldies, refreshingly, is the sound of an artist putting his money where his mouth is. One gets the sense that Anderson could have continued churning out charming, sincere, intimate break-up folk records like 2008’s Signal Flare and 2011’s Prison Boxing, endlessly. Those are both extremely strong records, and there is no doubt that another album in that vein would have been entirely satisfying. However, on Gilded Oldies Anderson transcends the satisfactory and shoots to thrill. In music fandom, there is perhaps nothing more thrilling than putting on a record and knowing that an artist has irrevocably upped the ante.

Texturally, the album is about as ambitious as it gets for this genre. On the opening track “In Now and Then,” a deep drum-and-piano groove is offset by deliciously polyrhythmic guitar and bass, and the entrance of an unforgettable syncopated horn line at the end pushes the tune to one of the highest highs in Cataldo’s career. 

Later, “Sinkhole” adds bongos, flute and synths to the equation to arrive at a distinctly retro sound; when Anderson sings, “I wish I had an older brother to intone some night music that gets in my bones,” we get the sense that the song is replicating exactly the music he is craving. Album centerpiece “Black Lamb” employs only piano, horns and bass drones behind Anderson’s vocals. The song smolders for 5-and-a-half minutes, building tension upon tension before releasing, not in a bombastic climax, but in a tasteful and cathartic decrescendo.

“Black Lamb” also showcases what truly pushes this album over the edge: Anderson’s voice. Typically known for a confessional style of singing on previous records, which might have earned him comparisons to The Weakerthan’s John K. Samson or confessional-king Ben Gibbard, Anderson sounds reinvigorated here. The vocals on Gilded Oldies are reminiscent of Fruit Bats’ Eric D. Johnson at his most animated. Anderson spits out words with an artful and rhythmic grace, and his lyrics are at their most introspective and frank. On the stunning “Reprieve, Reprieve,” Anderson vividly details an encounter with a former lover, but this is interaction is devoid of youthful angst and complicated by the infringement of adulthood: “you showed me pictures of your kid / You said he’s strong and smart as shit.”

Gilded Oldie is out on March 4th on Red Pepper Records.