Right when the music started I knew it was going to be a good album, but when I heard that opening track bust open a minute later...I knew it was going to be a great album. Notice the stinging synth-string flourishes and listen for that big falsetto chorus with banjo pickin' on one side and fuzzy guitar rock on the other. Thao and company don't play regular ol' folk-rock songs, they have a distinctive sound, and on We The Common every song finds a way to be interesting. Guitars get in your face on "City" but there's still room for stuff like vibraphones and a cappella singing. "We Don't Call" features honking saxophones. A hillbilly unison singer brings the twang on "Kindness Be Conceived," followed by "The Day Long," with its noir tone and bouncing bass/snare combo, which is then followed by needling, high register guitar work and Thao singing about not getting "naked enough" on "Every Body." You get the picture. We The Common is a patchwork quilt of interesting folk-rock and singer-songwriter choices bound together by a unifying theme of simply making creative, personal, and passionate music. With so much variety and so many points of interest in this collection of songs, the album and even the band itself (with its unique and memorable band name) exude a sort of collaborative, joy-of-music persona that's contagious and that makes We The Common less like a formal "album" and more like a very cool party with some very musical friends.