Album: DeVotchKa, 100 Lovers (Anti)

This Denver band were getting better with each album so there had to be a leveling off at some point.

It's just that there's nothing here as exquisitely heart-rending as "You Love Me" or as uniquely shaped as "The Clockwise Witness". However, all the right ingredients are in place: robustly-strummed Spanish guitar, bright bursts of Mariachi horns, widescreen production, and Nick Urata's yearning, soaring vocals, so it's still a cut above most epic global-influenced rock.