Holopaw

Not only have the members of Holopaw named their band after a town they’ve never lived in, but they’ve managed to deliver an impressive sophomore disc while rarely inhabiting the same room. Although the bandmates’ respective addresses may be far afield, Holopaw’s wistful pop is at home in the neighborhood of winsome without crossing the tracks into whinyville. Vocalist John Orth helms the act’s refreshing sound with laid-back grace, swerving between a fluttery, high-pitched swoon and solid singer-songwriter croon. Quit +/or Fight‘s production value has a handcrafted patina, proving imperfections can outshine gloss, as evidenced on the beckoning, low-tech percussion of “3-shy-cubs” and the tantalizing tug of piercing vocal against a bass clarinet’s throaty rumble on “Curious.” Keenly crafted lyrics roam from captured mini-moments (“Run my thumb across your hip/The pattern your waistband left little, ribbed pathway crests”) to lost innocence (“Back at the bunkhouse, they are carving your name in the stalls in rough-hewn filigree/Amongst the polished knotholes, their lazy cursive drops”). Hmm. Polished knothole pop? That works. And so does this album.