Far

The members of Far had the dubious task of following up what is widely considered their masterpiece in Water & Solutions—12 years after releasing said masterpiece. But what sets Far apart from their ’90s post-hardcore brethren is that the band became more popular after calling it quits. Perhaps a comeback wasn’t such a crazy idea. After almost two years of healing old wounds, recording tongue-in-cheek R&B covers, performing live and essentially taunting the shit out of their cultish followers, Far finally offers At Night We Live. Rather than try to recapture the moody, lightning-in-a-bottle magic of Water & Solutions, the band has made the most interesting and varied record of their career. “Dear Enemy” and opener “Deafening” are jagged scraps of melodic hardcore, while “The Ghost That Kept on Haunting” and “When I Could See” duck into darker, gloomier corners. The surprises come in “Are You Sure?” and “Better Surrender,” a pair of anthemic power-pop numbers that could potentially give Far the uncharted success that eluded them in the late-’90s (the album’s sparkly production doesn’t hurt either). However, At Night We Live never feels icky or contrived, but rather an honest snapshot of Far in 2010.