Athlete

Forget about the spacey rave-up "In Between 2 States" -- the promise of Athlete's latest lies in the single, "Hurricane." It introduces all the band's best qualities at once: effortless, maudlin melodies and synth-supported instrumental hooks. What follows in other tunes like "Tokyo " and "It's Not Your Fault" has decidedly softer edges than most of their earlier stuff, and the glut of ballads gets utterly downy.