Recorded at Sound Of Music, Richmond, Virginia and Duck Kee Studios, Mebane, North Carolina between December 2000 and May 2001. This Chapel Hill, NC quartet"s second album continues to seamlessly meld progressive and folkish inclinations into a beautifully impressionistic landscape. While the band embraces a pastoral grace, they never stoop to mere prettiness--there"s a haunting air of melancholy and darkness whispering from behind every tree. There"s a hefty dose of hypnotic psychedelia flying through the songs, but this is built over a foundation of relatively simple, almost-folk songs. The soothing simplicity of the music belies intricately crafted arrangements. The band"s soft but confidently articulated harmony vocals have the evocative smoothness of a marble statue covered with vines. Even the guitars feel like they"re breathing in unison with the singing. Songs like "Porchlight," "Simplify," and "Rustic Stairs" are built around vibrato guitar parts, but all the instruments are playing along to the same pulse, even without the vibrato effect. This creates a wondrous effect that shimmers like streetlights through a rain-spattered windshield. In short, this is gorgeous music.