Attagirl

Poor Bettie Serveert. Around 1993, the Dutch band seemed positioned to cash in on the then-burgeoning alt-rock revolution, but fate had other plans, namely that bitch of a consolation prize known as cult fandom. No matter: The band carried on making poignant guitar-pop. Album number eight inverts their songwriting formula a bit, and instead of working Peter Visser’s warm, ringing guitar melodies into an ecstatic, noisy groove, tracks like “Dreamaniancs” and “Versace” start with digitally-rendered grooves, then work backwards to find the hooks. OK, so the changes are ultimately kind of academic, but the most potent tracks—the glorious dream-pop gem, “Staying Kind,” and the raucous take on Bright Eyes’ ode to sad, drunken one-night stands, “Lover I Don’t Have To Love”—are more in line with the Bettie of old. More proof that change, even done artfully, is overrated.