Time passes each day. Our hearts break and heal. It rains, then it rains again, and then (in Michigan, anyway) it snows. You say goodbye to who you were. You say goodbye to someone you loved. Time passes.

All is not bleak, of course. Life for many of us is full of happiness, warmth, comfort and love. But those spaces of gray, of longing and melancholy, always fill in the yellow and red. They have to. Alias captures those spaces in both lyric and melody, resulting in a lovely, overlong and downbeat disc that is one of the quartet’s finest efforts, if quite different from their previous outings.

The band is comprised of two sets of siblings and three of them (the women and frontman Romeo Stodard) share vocals and natural harmonies. This familial approach, and the tone and approach of the band’s music, has earned them comparisons to Fleetwood Mac. The music is mostly modern indie-pop-rock shoegaze with hints of ‘70s pop and ‘90s grunge, an appealing combination, and the vocal harmonies soar with melancholy beauty and save several songs that are otherwise fairly standard and too long.

A pair of six-minute songs open the disc – what better way to announce a clean break from the sunny past and the concerns of youth? – in “Wake Up” and “You K(no)w.” The former begins as a piano ballad, taking its time through the verses before exploding in a sea of voices and noise in the chorus, which then leads to an orchestral buildup of voices piling on one in a crescendo, ending in a single feminine wail and then some piano to end the piece.

“You K(no)w” confidently slogs through its sections of gray, putting a rain-soaked sheen on its rather pedestrian lyrics, though a highlight (of the disc, really) is Stodard’s nimble voice, which is capable of cinematic grandeur, melancholy tones and higher pop-tinted vocals. “Shot In The Dark” cranks up the guitars to post-grunge levels, leveling off for the verses and then closing with a great solo straight off a ‘90s Neil Young album. “Roy Orbison” uses the titular artist as a touchstone for the echo-heavy song, and it doesn’t quite cohere, it’s clear that Orbison was an influence on this band’s sound.

Had this disc been full of these slower moments, it wouldn’t be nearly as good, but the band wisely incorporates rock elements (like “Shot In The Dark”) and pop elements as backdrops for the brooding lyrics. The middle of the disc abruptly shifts to two pop songs, the disco-infused “E.N.D.” (which is too distracting to really hit as a great song, although the bassline is sublime) and the truly excellent “Thought I Wasn’t Ready,” which brings to mind Fleetwood Mac and ‘70s singer-songwriters like Carole King and Carly Simon (Angela Gannon takes lead on this one).

“Accidental Song” floats by without much impact but “Better Than You” is a good indie pop song, making way for the six-minute “Enough,” which brings those Young comparisons back (this band opened for him on a recent tour, so perhaps they learned by osmosis) with a deliberate grunge rock approach that closes with a good band jam. It would have been a good way to end things, but that honor goes to “Black Rose,” which simply repeats the slower, more melancholy, dirge-like themes to lesser effect, even if Angela and Michele Stodard’s voices are lovely.

There is hope to be found among the disappointment and longing here, a sure sign of the band members reaching their thirties and growing up. Had some editing been done here for song length and perhaps a couple of duff tracks, this would have been a moody masterpiece, but as such, it is a flawed, beautifully sung and diverse record that speaks to all of us.

Rating: B

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