“I’ve spent a lifetime trying to decipher Charley Patton songs,” croons Ian Ball, knowing he’s failed, knowing it couldn’t be otherwise. “I don’t know why I bother/Even if I think it’s right/It always comes out wrong.” He and fellow songwriters and singers Ben Ottewell and Tom Gray have discovered that the symbols and sonics of Americana are inexhaustible and flexible; they mean just what you can make with them, and you never quite know what that will be. These great Brit pop hopes — back in 1998, they were the next big thing — mostly shape them into unpretentious, shining songs for an endless summer that’s more contemplative than indolent.
Idealistic ballads such as “Charley Patton Songs” and “Notice” build acoustic, slightly psychedelic layers on exquisite tunes, while radio rockers such as “Hamoa Beach” and “Tear Your Love Apart” use shuffle and boom-chick to court and then transcend their angst. When a banjo appears on the title track, it’s chopped into a staccato sample, a hook if you will, and worked seamlessly into the stacked dynamics, complete with sugary MIDI strings. A Delta slide guitar and deep soul Wurlitzer piano frame “Chasing Ghosts with Alcohol”; in between the twang, big, grungy guitars rain down, and yet it all sounds of an emotional piece.
Ultimately, How We Operate isn’t remotely an Americana move; it’s just state-of-the-postmodern-art pop. To say the rural signifiers on the album are just trappings is to indulge a cynicism Gomez doesn’t have time for. They’d rather leave you humming another tune.