Pick of the Week #27: Ohbijou - Beacons

I'm leaving to see Beirut @ the Phoenix in about 15 minutes (and I've got to plow through dinner at the same time!), so, some very quick thoughts on an album that deserves much better treatment. That said, I've been a big cheerleader for Ohbijou over the last couple of years, so I don't feel so bad...

Here's the one thing that I don't like about Ohbijou's sophmore album, Beacons: they really could've picked a better lead single... and that's about it. Everything else? Just about as good, possibly better, than expected; which is saying something given that their debut, Swift Feet For Troubling Times (pick of the week #7), charted in at #8 in 2007.

Here's what I do like: everything else. From the intro the album sounds cleaner, more elegantly produced, and the voices of the Mecija sisters, somehow, sound sweeter (note to the sisters: I feel like you could have a bright future singing in Disney movies). What's more, as the album progresses, it gets stronger. With a lot of albums - and maybe this is a testament to my short attention span - I get to track 4/5/6 and get a little tired and switch things up. With Beacons the songs up front are strong enough that I don't want to skip through them, but the album really begins to hit its stride with the stretch beginning with "Thunderlove"-"New Years"-"Make it Gold" which is, for my money, the best 3 song stretch of the year...

... off to the Phoenix! Beirut stuff up sometime Saturday...

[mp3] Ohbijou - Black Ice