The Trash Can Sinatras

Scottish indie pop stalwarts the Trash Can Sinatras were founded outside of Glasgow in 1987 by singer/guitarist Frank Reader (the brother of ex-Fairground Attraction singer Eddi Reader), guitarists John Douglas and Paul Livingston, bassist George McDaid, and drummer Stephen Douglas. Initially formed as a cover band, they were performing in a local bar when they were discovered by Go! Discs label representative Simon Dine; their first single, the superb "Obscurity Knocks," appeared in early 1990, evoking the jangly guitar pop crafted by Scottish bands like Aztec Camera, Orange Juice, and Josef K a decade earlier. A second Trash Can Sinatras single, "Only Tongue Can Tell," preceded the release of the quintet's debut LP, Cake, which met with a positive response on both sides of the Atlantic; in the U.S., it became a particular favorite on college radio. McDaid left the lineup in 1992, and was replaced by bassist David Hughes; by the time the Trash Can Sinatras' sophomore effort, I've Seen Everything, finally appeared in 1993, however, the ascendance of grunge essentially derailed whatever commercial momentum the group still had left, and 1996's A Happy Pocket was not even released in America. A new single, "Snow," followed in late 1999. They made a triumphant return to the scene in 2004 with their Spin Art release Weightlifting and a world tour that had them wowing old fans and gaining new ones with their typically wonderful display of melody and emotion. The group followed up the album the next year with Fez, a limited-edition album made up of live acoustic recordings made at New York's Fez nightclub. After a relatively uneventful couple of years, the band reconvened in late 2007 to beginning recording a new album. The results (which featured Carly Simon singing on a...