A real sleeper - the first few times I listened to this, I thought okay, pleasant enough in a kind of Bacharach'n'roll way, but nothing special. Repeated listens, though, made this record's subtler strengths more apparent. Led by Frank and John Navin, The Aluminum Group writes exquisitely arranged songs evoking a haunting melancholy. The arrangements, featuring a mix of acoustic, electric, and programmed instruments, remind me of a less distant and ironic, more acoustic Magnetic Fields ("Steam") or the better moments of the first, superior Electronic album with Bernard Sumner and Johnny Marr. The sound and mood of that recording are captured particularly on "Sugar and Promises." The trick this band has mastered is to write smooth and sophisticated music that neither sinks under the weight of a too-fashionable irony (an attitude nearly absent from this record) nor evaporates into lighter-than-air elevator music. Throughout, the music sounds like it's being played by actual living humans (as opposed to session zombies or a series of ones and zeroes) with a sense of connection to the sounds and emotions being conveyed. Understated, yes - no faux-soul histrionics here - but the more effective for it in conveying a sense of emotion held in check.

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