His efforts recall deceased singer/songwriter Josh Clayton-Felt, as they utilize a similar vocal approach and channel the same sort of psychedelic soul on tracks like "Tuna in the Brine." A song like "World Upon Your Shoulders" sounds utterly unlike the post-grunge efforts of Johns' earlier work, but in one song he takes the washed-out symphonies of Soft Bulletin-era Flaming Lips and the delicate falsetto pop of Jeff Buckley and combines them into a digestible pop nugget. Singer Daniel Johns steps into the forefront here, showcasing his rich voice and shockingly catchy, twisting tunes with melodies that are hardly predictable but often delightful. These songs have a sense of space and tunefulness that was always missing from the band's previous efforts, and the production (by David Bottrill, with orchestrations courtesy of Van Dyke Parks) brings to mind everything from the charging anthems of Big Country to U2's first experiments with Brian Eno. But they somehow kept going and kept improving, and Diorama is the sound of a band finally growing into their own skin. Take Silverchair, whose plodding angst anthems were the subject of much ridicule during the group's initial splash. One of the few true shocks in rock music is when a young band with a seemingly short shelf life manages to transform itself into a cohesive, enduring, and artistically diverse outfit.
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