Brothers Past have spent much of the second half of their career trying to distinguish themselves from their trancefusionist Philadelphia brethren. 2002’s insomniac concept, A Wonderful Day, was a valiant effort, but the extended trance jams and weak, throaty vocals left the quartet still bouncing along with Philly’s crooked-capped, hippie-hop dreadheads, and the sad reality is that, fair or unfair, that audience carries the jamband stamp. As limiting as the j-word may be, however, the dubious distinction does allow the quartet an honor they wouldn’t receive otherwise. Whatever a jamband is, if Brothers Past is one, they’ve made the jam scene’s best pop record to date, in the most unaffected sense of the word. This Feeling’s Called Goodbye is focused, well-written, undoubtedly popular music that doesn’t let its abundant hooks tear its indie-art head or its improvisational heart to shreds.
