A year after former
Cotton Mather
frontman
Robert Harrison
re-emerged with the epic-scale debut of his project
Future Clouds & Radar
, he's scaled himself back with a more modest follow-up, 2008's
Peoria
. While the self-titled debut was a wildly eclectic set featuring 27 songs spread over two discs,
's eight tunes clock in under 35 minutes, and there's a greater stylistic cohesion, though the twin nexus points of clever
pop
and 21st century
psychedelia
still dominate this music.
Harrison
's melodies are graceful and beautifully crafted, boasting an impressive elegance even when they rock out on
"Eighteen Months"
or jump into a bed of insistent rhythms on
"The Mortal"
, and the production (by
with help from
Dave Fridmann
) maintains a careful balance between straightforward presentation of
's music and creatively marring the surfaces with electronic texturing and mixing board trickery.
's vocals are even more impressive on
than they were on
FC&R
's debut, and the music is lovely and bewitching, but somehow this album feels somewhat truncated, as if never quite gets the chance to shift into fifth gear before it draws to a close, and it's hard not to get the feeling this music deserves a broader canvas, like an overgrown EP that was nipped in the bud before it fully blossomed into an album. Despite this,
leaves no question that
's gifts and musical vision remain intact, and with any luck the third
album will fulfill the promise of this work. ~ Mark Deming