Stella Luce

Take Una Volta-era DeVotchKa, subtract Nick Urata's Morrissey croon and replace it with the sometimes-Ani-DiFranco, sometimes-Sarah-Vaughan vocals of Alana Rolfe, add a little more flair for weird noises, and you might get something that sounds like this Fort Collins-based act. The band's violin-based pop bears a broad range of influences, from lounge to Eastern Bloc to indie shoegaze. Eclectic yet satisfyingly consistent, Zugenruhe, Stella Luce's debut long-player, is well-rooted and hook-based. Some moments work better than others (the album's first track, "Prelude," for instance, sounds like a horror-movie soundtrack and gets grating after about the first thirty seconds), while the smoldering seduction of songs like "Esteban's Fishing Song" and the soaring builds of "Beltbomb Machine" make the album worth repeated listens.