Led by songwriters Justin Rice and Christian Ridder, this Brooklyn band built buzz by releasing an EP every month in 2006, a gamble that would not have paid off if the music — mannered indie pop that recalls Spoon (minus the diffident cool) and Bright Eyes (but all grown up) — hadn’t been worthy. (Even the most ardent bloggers don’t want 50 half-assed tracks a year, Bob Pollard fans excepted.) The Broken String pares down the track list and polishes the best of the EPs, from the piano-and-banjo-driven “Shrinking Violet” to the gorgeously plunking “Click, Click, Click, Click” to the rumbling, climactic “The Monitor.”
Now Hear This: Bishop Allen – “Rain” DOWNLOAD MP3
