Just less than a year on from
Pigeons
, a sophomore album that found
Here We Go Magic
simultaneously expanding their personnel, stylistic scope, and mainline indie rock critical profile, the Brooklyn quintet returned with the inexplicably titled
January EP
. (Perhaps they decided to split the difference between the May release date and the Halloween-ish cover art.)
already felt like a somewhat less than coherent grab bag of odds and ends, so the prospect of six holdovers from the time of its recording isn't overwhelmingly enticing. But
January
acquits itself surprisingly well, often offering a sharper sense of focus than its parent album. Not that anything here is a major departure from
' hazy, lazy psychedelia, but tunes like the gently pretty,
Shins-ish
"Hands in the Sky"
and the jaunty, slightly goofy
"Backwards Time"
arguably boast sharper, clearer melodies than anything included there. The brightly woozy five-beat psych-popper
"Tulip"
and the gorgeously lilting
"Song in Three"
(which is actually in six) also manage to make more out of less, highlighting the band's gift for unobtrusively subtle rhythmic complexity, while the brief
"Hollywood"
is an enjoyably eerie bit of sparse, spectral choral folk. That leaves only one truly negligible cut, making this EP a definite keeper for fans and worth a listen for the curious. Even if the primary common characteristic of this stuff is how exceedingly pleasant it all is, there's always a place for that, regardless of what month it is. ~ K. Ross Hoffman