THE STRUMBELLAS: Part Time Believer

Call it making up for lost time. It’s been five years since their last LP Rattlesnake- and in the interim, The Strumbellas have played a bit of musical chairs in the lead vocal department- but on Part Time Believer, the Canadian alt-folk-rockers sound as buoyant and hopeful as ever. It’s refreshing to hear a band that can shuffle lead singer duties without feeling the need to dramatically reinvent themselves, or without coming off like a second rate carbon copy of their former selves.

Back in 2022, The Strumbellas announced via social media that frontman Simon Ward was stepping away from the band to spend more time with his family. It was a soft exit, relatively undramatic, without any new hires making things any weirder than they need to be. Guitarist Jimmy Chauveau has simply taken Simon’s place at the center mic, for now, and the band’s sound has been relatively unchanged.

But how is the new stuff, really, you ask? To be perfectly fair, it’s likely that Simon Ward has his diehards, and they’re bound to hear some sort of seismic shift in content or quality. But for the casual fan, The Strumbellas still sound rather strikingly like the same band that released the alt rock radio hit ”Spirits” eight years ago. They’re loose and upbeat without being corny, the sun-baked cousins of The Lumineers or Band of Horses, crafting extremely hummable anthems without those bands’ extra dose of pathos.

To be fair, their last few LPs weren’t exactly a sky high bar. This is road trip music. This is Indian Summer late afternoon-at-the-beach music. Opening track and first single “Hold Me” will sound great if you happen to be cruising the PCH. “Running Out Of Time” powers up the gang vocals for the makings of an instant festival singalong. “Echoes” sounds a bit like “Spirits” Part 2, but kudos for pulling that off without Ward around to sing lead.

Give it a few spins, and the lyricism tends to sink in, too. It would be easy to dismiss The Strumbellas as mindless good vibes; their lyrics are never over-written, sometimes a little obvious- but don’t mistake them for empty. Check out the gently downbeat closer “Wreckage” before casting any aspersions. It’s a minor miracle that any band with a major lineup change can move on this seamlessly, and with songs this confident. To that point, Part Time Believer is an understatement. This record will keep most fans believing for a long time. B