How pleasant: a throwback, in-between-albums non-LP single from an '80s indie pop throwback band. If anyone thinks this Brooklyn group's 2009 eponymous debut was a first-fling fluke, both the sharp "Say No" and even better B-side "Lost Saint" suggest we should in fact be salivating while awaiting its sophomore successor. Just as catchy as "Come Saturday" and "Young Adult Friction," if not more so, this breathless A-side whooshes forward like a
Going Blank Again Ride wonder, its ringing guitars similarly hinting at that era's
Teenage Fanclub, beneath
Kip Berman's boyish, Sarah label-esque vocals (belying his romantically abstemious lyrics). Then the more dreamy flip comes like cake icing, its light-hearted, lovelorn pop panache epitomizing everything Slumberland has stood for since the halcyon days of
Velocity Girl,
Lilys,
Ropers,
Rocketship, and
Small Factory. Amidst the legions of the blog-beaten overhyped, here's one at last that deserves the hubbub. ~ Jack Rabid, The Big Takeover