Put Danger Back In Your Life

Folksongs for the Afterlife are a band who look to the late '80s and early '90s for their inspiration. The album calls to mind some of the best shoegazer and dream pop bands like Lush, Chapterhouse, and Ride without ever being derivative. Put Danger Back in Your Life is their first full-length record, and they sound like they have been making records forever; there isn't a bum note or bad idea on the whole record. As strong as the music is and as memorable as the songs are, the thing that really carries the band is Caroline Schutz's strong voice. Pure and true and cotton candy sweet, she always uses her voice for good and never slips into the evil trap of oversinging. One might question the use of the band's least accessible track, the morose "Reunion," (OK, so maybe there is one bum note) as the album opener, but once you get past that there are up-tempo rushes of sound like the hooky"Lockaway"; country-tinged ballads like "Dark Room," which finds the other guiding force behind Folksongs, Chris Sizemore, chipping in on vocals; moody, atmospheric tracks like the string-bathed "Miles and Miles"; and folky tunes like the British folk-influenced "Ghost." The best song is the last one, "Summer Loop," an absolutely beautiful song with Schutz (and Sizemore) soaring delicately over standup bass, ringing guitars, and disjointed orchestral samples. It sounds like a classic lost Fairport Convention or Pentangle track. Folksongs for the Afterlife are an assured and interesting indie pop band. Seeing Hidden Agenda on the cover of a disc is fast becoming the indie pop seal of approval, and records like Put Danger Back in Your Life are the reason why.