Cannibal Sea
Part Grant McLennan, part Belle and Sebastian, and certainly part Ladybug Transistor--the incarnation that preceded this Brooklyn trio--Essex Green plays tunes that are at once deliriously bright and unabashedly laconic. They hail from Brooklyn, were once Ladybug Transistor, and are part of the Elephant 6 bloodline (that which spawned Olivia Tremor Control, Apples in Stereo, and Neutral Milk Hotel). And Essex Green loves, loves melody, snappy tunes with seemingly Scottish titles like "This Isn't Farmlife," and the lilting vocals, chiming guitars, and Fender Rhodes piano that so wonderfully serve A.C. Newman and the New Pornographers. That's the quixotic predicament with Essex Green: You've heard them before and yet haven't. You should.--Andrew Bartlett