Loquat: Secrets Of The Sea

Loquat's debut album, 2005's It's Yours To Keep, was a pleasant-enough

slice of electro-dusted pop whose songs seemed designed primarily to showcase

the enchanting voice of Kylee Swenson. The directive doesn't appear to have

changed on its follow-up, though the songwriting has: At some point over the

past few years, the San Francisco outfit learned how to craft tunes that go far

beyond just sitting around trying not to get in the way of its pretty-sounding

singer. Swenson is up for the challenge of matching the sharper soundtrack, a

fact immediately proven by a glorious chorus that's belted out during the

album-opening "Harder Hit," and the whole package stays strong over the course

of 11 songs. Loquat's sound is predominantly made up of smoothed-out edges that

are about as adult contempo as indie rock gets, but the well-executed

hooks—the triumphant ending of "Go Hibernate" suggests that these guys

are capable of writing household-name-making hits—never let things get

droopy. Don't look now, but Secrets Of The Sea just might bridge the gap

between generational record collections. As for those waterlogged secrets, the

lyrics tend to suggest that something ominous is going on, but on the surface,

it's a dream-pop party that keeps getting better upon closer inspection.