Trade Union

The Tractors’ new one arrives eight years after the band’s last effort (discounting a pair of Christmas albums), and 15 years after their debut, Owner’s Manual. But Trade Union could have been recorded in 1994—or 1954, for that matter. It’s the same fusion of country and old-school rock that has always fueled The Tractors, a sound that thankfully never goes out of fashion. But while Trade Union boasts the same strengths as the rest of the group’s catalog, it also has the same weaknesses—most particularly the air of studio-bound sterility that makes this vital music sound less fun than it should.