Received Pronunciation

VINYL FORMAT. Comes with a free download! Pants Yell! despite their misleadingly emphatic (and eternally mysterious) name, have been together since 2003 when they formed at a Boston art school. The trio is the vehicle for singer-guitarist Andrew Churchman's modestly proportioned but perfectly realized songs. Abetted by co-founding bassist Sterling Bryant and drummer Casey Keenan, his two-and-three minute marvels draw power from restraint and poetry from plainspoken observation - in short, they are greater than the sum of their parts. Not for nothing did Churchman name the band's last album Alison Statton, in honor of the former Young Marble Giants/Weekend singer, who understood better than most that a whisper, dispensed properly, is always more affecting than a scream.

Received Pronunciation is that album's remarkable follow-up. In nine song and 26 minutes, and without ever deploying a distortion pedal, they make a greater emotional impact than an album twice as long and at double the volume. Which isn't to say the album lacks of visceral sonic thrills - hear "Someone Loves You" build to an ecstatic climax that perfectly justifies the song's title, or the elegant guitar solo that launches "Cold Hands" skyward. This is pop that doesn't need to raise its voice or shake its fist; it wins over with its mind and its heart.