Dressy Bessy

A cute name like Dressy Bessy doesn’t really leave much doubt as to what kind of music might be contained within, but their sophomore album, Sound Go Round, finds the Denver band trying to play down that cuteness and be accepted for their catchy, female-fronted pop and strong songwriting. Much of that is due to bandleader Tammy Ealom’s sweet vocals, although John Hill’s melodic touch with a guitar doesn’t hurt. With several links to the Elephant 6 collective (Hill used to be a member of the Apples In Stereo, Robert Schneider produced the band’s first album), it would be very easy to dismiss the band as one that lacks the imagination of those other musicians. Yet they write wonderfully accessible songs that could potentially win them a wider audience than the whole collective combined. There’s something very likeable about Dressy Bessy; even those thoroughly opposed to the concept of pop music would surely be able to appreciate Ealom’s ability to traverse a whole number of styles in her quest for that perfect pop song. And she only really puts one foot wrong on Sound Go Round (the clumsy, but thankfully short "All These Colors”), everything else (such as the guitar-heavy "I Saw Cinnamon,” or the light psychedelia of "Flower Jargon”) is pretty darned good, making for an enjoyable album.