Arriving just five months after their debut EP, the beguiling
Weight of the Globe, the eponymous debut long-player from harmonious (and precocious) Indianapolis-based teen siblings Lily & Madeleine Jurkiewicz doesn't disappoint, offering up a 12-song set of
Fleet Foxes,
Staves,
Smoke Fairies, and
First Aid Kit-inspired, Midwest-bred melancholy that both celebrates and laments the eternally overcast teenage heart. More
Charlotte Bronté than
Jane Austen,
the Jurkiewiczes may tackle some of the same girlish themes as their contemporaries, but
Taylor Swift they are not, opting for a more timeless, classical, and occasionally existential esthetic that lends each song a subtle yet consistent degree of emotional heft, especially on sterling cuts like the sublime, gospel-tinged opener "Sounds Like Somewhere," the evocative "Devil We Know," and the lucid and engaging first single "Come to Me." The arrangements, more often than not, are as tasteful as the songs are pristine, allowing the sisters' genetic disposition toward harmonic consensus the room to bloom, while introducing the occasional string section, weepy pedal steel, and galloping snare drum, all of which are peppered sparingly throughout, imbuing the album with a warm, '70s soft rock/country-pop patina that evokes images of hall trees strewn with scarves and carelessly hung jean jackets, and dining room tables piled with mail, large vessels of coffee, and half-emptied plates. Semi-decent, rainy Sunday morning records are a dime a dozen, but when they connect, it's like a Bloody Mary-bruised brunch with your best friends, and Lily & Madeleine Jurkiewicz have crafted a moody gem, and one of the most achingly comforting albums of 2013. ~ James Christopher Monger