It's been a wild ride for Portugal. The Man since they hit it global with "Feel it Still." Writing about Woodstock six years ago, I called it "their most unabashedly pop album yet. Perhaps this sound will expose them to the larger audience they undoubtedly deserve." No one, and least of all PTM leader, John Gourley could have imagined the level of success the Alaska/Oregon band was about to stumble upon. Yet, I found the collective strength of the songs on Woodstock paling in comparison to every record since Church Mouth, their second release. Back then they were churning out a new LP every year until the shockingly long 23-month break before 2013's Evil Friends. And at the time, I thought that album represented a noticeable shift from the four prior. Now a half decade removed and in a world in which everyone knows at least one of their tunes, the ninth LP Chris Black Changed My Life muddies the waters of the group's real demarcation and serves as the bullseye in a Venn diagram of the previous three.

It's a touch of everything but not enough of any one to completely stick the landing: the melodic sweetness that seems to come so naturally to Gourley; the hip-hop undertones that Danger Mouse prompted while producing Evil Friends; and the sampling that helped boost the band to new heights on Woodstock. Chris Black likely won't change listeners' lives the way he did Gourley's, but it's most certainly a welcome entry into our existence.