Hold On Love

Whatever became of all the broken-hearted story tellers? Did being talked to by the TV for our entire childhood really kill our ability to talk back about how we really feel? If it wasn't for those folks at Saddle Creek - producing soundtracks to the shy techno-trapped worlds of noughties indie-kids - the answer would be a doe-eyed, mumbled, 'yes'. But praise be to the Omaha music scene. Azure Ray ain't the kinda band who run into your life, pin you down and thrust you about until you can't sweat or scream anymore. This is something altogether much sweeter and sorta asexual. Not that everything comes down to primal urges, you understand.

Hold on Love is the laid-bare type of record that wanders past you, all hair flowing in the breeze and knowing pouts; too much of a perfect stranger to ever want to get to know her. Distance is pleasure, but it's also pain. Risk does not always equal happiness. This album is a collection of proper songs. Pianos that tip-toe on the Mazzy Star/Sparklehorse precipice and mourn for the days when Elton John wasn't such a diva. Drums, which keep your head swaying in time. Strings and electronic twinges make up the rest of it, but it's all about the willowy vocals. What else do you need to know? They've written songs with Moby and Conor Oberst. This is their fourth album.

The Drinks We Drank Lastnight is bound to be on a Dawsons Creek soundtrack near you, soon. Everyone breaks wind in their sleep. If maudlin but beautiful, expertly crafted pop songs keep a room in your heart's hotel (under an assumed name, naturally), get with it, seek and caress.