The One AM Radio's 2011 effort
Heaven Is Attached by a Slender Thread features more of lead singer/songwriter Hrishikesh Hirway's melodic and lushly produced pop. This is music crafted for sunny late-afternoon listening and melancholy days spent alone. Joining Hirway behind the scenes is Tony Hoffer, whose work with such like-minded bands as
Belle & Sebastian,
Phoenix, and
Air fits perfectly with the album's overall laid-back, melodic dance-pop vibe. In that sense, such tracks as the yearningly romantic "Everything Falls Apart" and the sweetly sunny "In a City Without Seasons," featuring vocals from Fontaine Cole, are perfect sad pop nuggets that fall somewhere in between the handclappy rhythms of
the Blow and the hummable Swedish pop of
the Acid House Kings. Similarly, such cuts as the new wave, synth-driven "Plans" and the
Beach Boys meet
Death Cab for Cutie-sounding "Everyone But You" are as immediately catchy as they are heartbreakingly bittersweet. ~ Matt Collar