After receiving positive shout-outs from the likes of Spin and Pitchfork following the success of their lo-fi debut masterpiece, Broom, the critical darlings of SSLYBY had big expectations to live up to with the release of their next album, especially after being picked up by the indie heavyweights at Polyvinyl Records. However, there’s no need to worry—Pershing, the band’s vehicle for proving their true studio chops, follows through as a sweet, soothing pop success. From beginning to end, the album is full of consistently great songs filled with a simple-yet-catchy swirl of acoustic and electric guitar melodies that provides a solid backbone to the ear-pleasing vocals that seem to effortlessly float above it. Driven by drums that will make your toes tap and chamber pop-style trumpets scattered throughout, Pershing is a genuinely great effort that will only induce smiles with every listen.

Review by Kelsey McArdle

Posted Wednesday, April 16th, 2008 at 12:30 pm and is filed under Reviews. The opinions expressed in music reviews are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of WIUX or any of its other volunteers.