[4/5] Ganging Up On The Sun shows just how far the members of Guster have come from their days busking in Boston for petty cash. As on 2003's Keep It Together, the group tone down the ramshackle percussion and acoustic sweetness that marked their early albums. Instead, layers of rich sound-barroom piano, crunchy guitars, billowing horns and muted keyboards-envelop Sun's songs with warmth. The results are mixed: Harmony-swirled radio gems (the jangly pop tune "Dear Valentine," the love song "Satellite") and rollicking rockers ("C'mon") perfectly tap into Guster's wistful mix of nostalgia and longing. But overall, Sun can feel almost too slick or forced; witness the plodding (albeit delicate) seven-minute "Ruby Falls," which doesn't come close to Death Cab For Cutie's similar-sounding opus "Transatlanticism." Even still, the sound of growing up has rarely sounded so self-assured. (REPRISE) Annie Zaleski
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