Carousel

From the beginning of the intricate guitar lines on the opening track, "Stonewall," it's obvious that Massachusetts popsters the Fly Seville are accomplished musicians. When the song ends with a soulful violin line, it's also obvious that they reject the traditional guitar-bass-drum combination that often limits the range of a band's music. Stacy Joy adds violin and keyboards to each of the 12 songs on the quartet's debut, Carousel. Jesse Blatz leads the way on vocals and guitar, while Randy Noonan provides drums and percussion, and Colin Rhinesmith contributes a steady hand on bass. The clean instrumentation on tracks like "Mainly on the Plains," "Shiny Sweet," and "Cosmonauts" is impressive, as is Blatz's increasingly disarming and strong vocal delivery. The band slows down the tempo on laid-back songs like "Lemonseed" and "The Second Half." The disc closes with the diverse and poppy "Waiting for the Governor," with a smooth organ and Blatz's slyest vocal delivery on the disk. Carousel was produced by Eric Masunaga at two studios in Massachusetts. Sealed Fate records released the disc in 1999.