GUSTER http://www.guster.com Affirming the enduring virtues of solid songwriting, understated and openhearted performances, and a penchant for off-kilter moments of ecstatic inspiration, the Boston-based trio Guster releases its stunning new album, Keep It Together, on Palm Pictures/Reprise Records. Guster's hardcore fans, along with the merely curious and accidentally intrigued, are in for something of a surprise with Keep It Together. The album's baker's dozen of original selections includes the new single "Amsterdam" and standout selections like "Diane," "Red Oyster Cult," "Backyard," and "Come Downstairs And Say Hello." Together they take the team of Ryan Miller (guitar, vocals), Adam Gardner (guitar, vocals) and Brian Rosenworcel (percussion) into some intriguing new aural territory, a landscape scattered with vivid cinematic imagery, unsettling insights, and autumnal shadings of the most brilliant and fleeting subtlety. All pretty much standard operating procedure for a group that has built a fanatical fan base through near constant touring and three previous releases: 1994's Parachute, 1996's Goldfly, and 1999's Lost And Gone Forever, which in aggregate neatly lifted Guster from the teeming ranks of alt-rock underdogs into the rarified realms of The Real Deal. This status has been cemented by the group's performances at everything from Woodstock '99 to their own sold-out shows in venues like the FleetBoston Pavilion (Boston), Central Park SummerStage (New York), The Riviera Theater (Chicago), The Warfield (San Francisco), and The Tabernacle (Atlanta), not to mention sharing bills with a raft of heavy hitters. In the process, Guster has racked up a wealth of performing and recording experience since its formative days at Tufts University. It was in 1992 that the trio first met, made common creative cause, and kept the ball rolling, busking by day and playing steady club dates by night, quickly carving a niche for themselves on the bustling Boston music scene. The previously mentioned run of acclaimed albums strengthened the band's underground resume, while aboveground, the cognoscenti were catching wind thanks to "Airport Song," a left-field radio hit off of Goldfly, sporadic appearances on The Late Show with David Letterman, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn, and prominent placement in the feature film Life As A House. Thus buoyed, Guster returned to the studio with producers Roger Moutenot (Yo La Tengo, Freedy Johnston, Sleater-Kinney) and Ron Aniello (Days Of The New, Lifehouse), along with contributors/friends Josh Rouse, Ben Kweller, Joe Pisapia, and Tony Goddess (Papas Fritas), to begin work on a collection of new songs that would eventually coalesce into Keep It Together.