Seven Bad Ideas

Both Kevin Devine, the Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter, and Andy Hull, frontman of Atlanta band Manchester Orchestra and sole member of Right Away, Great Captain!, have been around longer, sold more records, and played bigger venues than their collaborative side project, Bad Books. In 2010, the longtime friends (and the rest of Manchester Orchestra) partnered up to workshop one another’s ideas under a new moniker. Instead, they wound up writing material that sounded like reworkings of their respective catalogs: alt-leaning indie folk, deceptively mopey rock, and heartstring-tugging acoustic songs. After a seven-year break, Bad Books return with III, the album that finally articulates who, and what, this band is about.