Say Hi: Oohs & Aahs

“Elouise,” the opening track off the new album by the recently renamed Say Hi (formerly Say Hi To Your Mom), mentions “voices pure and soft” over a tense, tumbling guitar-bass-drum tandem. That’s appropriate, since Eric Elbogen, the singer-songwriter-multi-instrumentalist who operates under the Say Hi name, processes his voice so thoroughly that it’s almost impossible to understand him. Elbogen is plenty emotive, but his sighed vocals (see especially “November Was White, December Was Grey”—which is as baleful as it sounds—and the taut groove of “Dramatic Irony”) never seem forced or affected. Which isn’t to say Oohs & Aahs, Elbogen’s sixth album, stints on dramatic effect. “Hallie And Henry” features a chorus that balances soaring grandeur with made-in-the-basement modesty. And a couple of songs ride rockabilly grooves that are simultaneously cool and jittery, such as “One, Two… One” and “Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh,” which name-checks Built To Spill’s “Randy Described Eternity” and features an irreducible chorus instrumental hook that sounds like it’s simultaneously being played on a violin and trumpet.