Loved

By the time of Cranes’ third album the group, on the verge of what would be a busy but slightly unstable couple of years as members both came and went, arguably reached a perfected form of its original approach, while at the same time showing that they were already exploring what other possibilities could be pursued. Lead single “Shining Road” had a rushed intensity without being totally crushing, though a song like “Lilies” had plenty of that element to bear in turn. The penultimate “Paris and Rome,” meantime, was almost their own version of an epic ballad.