Excelling at exuberant pop opuses – as if Pet Sounds and Sgt. Pepper’s represented the norm – the Channel pivots on ambition. Officially the family band’s fourth disc and first since a 2006 double LP, brothers Colby and Brent Pennington along with sister and brother-in-law Heather and Andy McAllister burst 16 short anthems that race with delicious lilts (“Scarlet,” “Strollin'”) amidst kitchen-sink arrangements. The first half of Multi Goods & Services sparkles indie-pop before “Two Hill Heart” marks the album’s turn into the rocking “Reason for the Feeling,” piano plinks traded for riffing guitar. It’s as if the entire spectrum of shifting Sixties sounds were pressed into a single platter. The propulsive “What’s in a Name??” and “Slocum Springs” drive the back half into the Nilsson-esque close of “Anywhere We Go” with Randy Reynolds. Confounding in full scope, each song polishes an individual gem.
This article appears in January 3 • 2020.
