10 Songs | MR039 | Release Date 2009

The latest from Little Rock’s twangy-pop group Big Silver effortlessly blends Wilco-esque arrangements with early Fab Four harmonies, making for an easy, beatific listen. Despite lyrics from the darker side of the street, the tune “Satan Cried” tells a horrific yarn a la ROSEMARY’S BABY while somehow marvelously accompanied by pop-soft “Oooo-oooo” backing vocals. “Poison the Wishing Well” is as perfectly snarling as any early-’80s Costello, complete with throbbing organ. On the whole, the album sounds neither too young or too old, with the exuberance in “Have Me Over” capturing both the whimsy of adolescence and the existential pains of growing older, while tracks like the opener “Black Suit” serve as a polished, smirking extended metaphor for aging, and moving on.

- Oxford American