for the past few months, i’ve been moving away from the ambient soundscapes i surrounded myself with for most of last year, towards more pop-oriented songs that usually don’t reach the four-minute mark. there’s been a influx of excellent jangly, dream-pop, and ethereal lo-fi pop that makes my heart flutter with excitement. in past entries i’ve mentioned fireflies, pants yell!, and moscow olympics, and all of them have reinvigorated my sense of escape in the pop song but not to the point of total abandonment as with the wordless ambient soundscapes i’ve become accustomed to.

fraction discs, who have given us the wonderful debut by moscow olympics, have also delivered the unassuming listening public (unbeknownest to me when it came out last year) the wonderful debut album by the Swedish duo, Tillmanns. A Careless Lifestyle consists of ten songs that remind me of radio debt. caught in a murky swamp. the vocals seem like they’re recorded miles away from where the music is being played, which is excellent by the way, as if felt had ever decided to go “electro” and maurice deebank and martin duffy fought over who should be playing the keyboards. i’ll have to track down the couple 7″ singles they put out prior to the debut album because this is just the kind of thing we need during this miserable last stretch of winter.