Discover America

Future Paths

All it took was two albums with his new band, Discover America, for Chris Staples to finally sound completely comfortable. The Seattle-based songwriter seems perfectly at ease having found that perfect middle ground between the quieter moments of twothirtyeight, the dramatic rock band he fronted for eight years, and the pensive, moodiness of his acoustic-driven solo efforts (he also has a hand in indie darlings Telekinesis). It suits him very well, as his sophomore effort, Future Paths, is a warm, laidback affair that is as engaging as it is moving.



It helps that Staples never overstays his welcome, nor overstates his premise. He packs a great deal of detail into these relatively short songs (none crack the four-minute mark), especially when he's in storyteller mode. He paints a morbid but stirring picture of watching the drowning death of a young boy over an understated pop shuffle on "Brighton Beach," and on "1979", Staples uses his laconic vocals to plead with an unnamed person to "give us a clue" about the messy tangle of their psyche.



When he tries to take a broader, more universal approach, though, Staples comes off as cloying, as when he passes off the a paper-thin chorus of "This life is a dream/That you must keep having" as wisdom on "When You Are Young." Such eye-rolling sentiments are easy to overlook when wrapped up in a bed of sun-dappled pop. Thankfully, those moments are few on this overall winning album.

Lujo http://www.lujorecords.com