Letting Up Despite Great Faults

On the second album by the Austin/L.A. band Letting Up Despite Great Faults, dreamy murk-pop gives way to sharper hooks and crackling, disco ball–reflecting rhythms. Though some may deride this album for borrowing from a particular early-'80s sound, the songs here have enough original flourishes and graceful metamorphoses to give the band its own identity. "Visions" opens with glassy shards of guitar and keys, but soon a warm, New Order–ish bass melody comes to the forefront. Michael Lee's breathy vocals further soften the brittle tones, which shift to more of a twinkle than a crackle as the tune slowly morphs into a swirling dance-floor number that helicopters off into the night. Those bass lines and snapping electronic drums are just too tempting a combo for melancholy alt-pop of this nature (dreamy, dancy, one optimistic step away from resignation), so the omniscience here is forgivable. And imbuing the entire collection with a palpable bittersweetness, befitting every mood from Monday-morning blues to Saturday-night abjection, surely charms the band's intended youthful audience.