Make Me Armored

The Scourge of the Sea's debut album is a gentle and considered album with songs that unspool slowly and calmly. The tempos barely go beyond languid, the mood is restrained, the vocals lazy and sweet; the record isn't for parties, it's for those days when the party rages on without you and you want to pull the covers over your head. The Lexington. KY trio has a firm grip on songcraft and the setting of a mood, they seem to have learned quite a bit from jangle pop masters like Yo La Tengo, the Feelies, and the Connells. In fact, Make Me Armored would have fit nicely on the shelf next to records by these bands back in the late '80s and early '90s. You can almost play the earnest, innocent videos in your head for tunes like "Waterwings," "Referee," or "Goodbye, Darkness." You can picture them opening for the Sneetches or Miracle Legion and giving them a serious run. The group's sound is familiar but pleasantly so; they never fall into imitation or pastiche. Instead, they jangle along nicely like guys who dig the Byrds, the Kinks and maybe early REM. When the record is over you might want to hear it again, you might not, but you won't feel like you wasted 45 minutes. Sometimes that's enough.