In the indie-folk genre today, there is little better than what Good Old War does with ease: luscious three-part harmonies, basic acoustic strumming, and the catchiest hooks around. What they perhaps lack in lyricism on “Come Back As Rain,” they make up for with tune after tune of addicting ear pleasure.

“‘Come Back As Rain’ begins exactly as you’d expect a Good Old War record to begin – an ambient, folk-tinged guitar lick prances around for half a minute before giving way to the dulcet vocal melodies of Keith Goodwin, Tim Arnold, and Dan Schwartzman. Just like that and Philadelphia’s heralded indie-folk trio are off to the races… Sprawling and soaring vocal melodies, guitar lines worth getting hopelessly lost in, and those classic three-way Goodwin/Arnold/Schwartzman warbles still populate the record,” said Sputnik Music contributing writer Statrick Pickles.

Good Old War is still relatively in their early, formative years as a band. Their self-titled album, released in 2010, was a masterpiece of song-crafting, and this new release takes a small step backward in terms of musicianship, but just a small regression in a band whose future looks bright. It’s easier to forgive some of the rookie mistakes like too-simple lyrics that lack depth and uncomplicated instrumentalism that surface on “Come Back As Rain” because almost every song still has the ability to fiercely stick in your head.

“The instrumentation is acoustic, but it’s played in a way that paints broad brush strokes of the genre’s requisite traits rather than trying to present a distinct take on them. Admittedly, Good Old War didn’t exactly reinvent the genre on their past two recordings, but here they take the basic versions of their strongest skills (vocal harmonies, accessibility, and a knack for good hooks) and don’t do much embellishing,” said Pop Matters’ Brice Ezell.

The songs “Better Weather,” “Touch the Clouds (Taste the Ground),” and “Loud Love” are all solid, lovely songs – exactly what every Good Old War fanatic wants to hear. “Better Weather” is up-beat and the percussion is kicked up a notch, and the chorus, “we’ll pray for some better weather,” is that same simple, blindly-optimistic persona that makes this feel-good band sweet and charming. “Touch the Clouds (Taste the Ground)” is the best example of the band’s tight, dream-like vocal harmonies – the sing-a-long quality is surprisingly not cheesy, but instead effortlessly uncomplicated. And “Loud Love” sounds like a little ditty you’ve heard a million times and still love. It has a way of sounding familiar even if you’re hearing it for the first time, and although the lyrical problems are still present, Good Old War dares you to listen and not hum happily along.

“The vocal harmonies are great, and their skill with a good hook is near prodigious, but that doesn’t mean that they can be nothing better than ‘a really catchy folk band.’ There’s a lot that can be done with the folk genre, as it’s branched out into more sub-genres than I can count. But, for now, so long as they keep writing songs like the material on this album, Good Old War have essentially set themselves up to be the premier Boy Band of folk: all fluff, little substance. It’s catchy fluff, yes, but fluff nonetheless,” said Ezell.