All of Us In Our Night

Amidst Ben Folds-inflected piano rockers, Modern Skirt's 2005 debut featured the charming Pasadena, a shuffling acoustic number that backed heartsick hopes with chiming group vocals. The lion's share of their follow-up seizes on that formula, at its best holding steady between '60s sunshine and '90s alternative to spin out breezy jangle pop. The mid-tempo pleasantries do sometimes plod, however, even with their layered depth, and a melting-pot agreeability here is often an interest-losing weakness. All Of Us is invigorated midway through by Face Down, which sounds like a bizarro Weezer - in a world where Rivers Cuomo's childhood obsession was more along the lines of Zombies than White Zombie. And as exhibited by the sly build of Motorcade, a campfire sing-along for the urban set (produced by R.E.M.'s Mike Mills), the Skirts are most captivating when they allow their songs to mature and surprise.