by Mark Deming
Elsinore's third album is an ambitious step forward for the Illinois-based band; the folkie influences and gentle alt-country accents that dominated their first two full-length sets have been left by the side of the road, and instead, Yes Yes Yes is an intelligent, carefully crafted exercise in indie pop, with artfully executed arrangements that make room for electric guitars, banks of keyboards, and even strings and horns. At the same time, while Elsinore's earlier work often sounded cheerful but tentative, Yes Yes Yes radiates confidence in its broader, bolder musical approach, and if the melodic style of key songwriter Ryan Groff bears a very real resemblance to his earlier work, these new songs sound remarkably well-suited to the eclectic outlook of Yes Yes Yes, and the harmonies that played a … » Read more