Aloha

It doesn’t usually take a band over six years and a couple of line-ups to discover a sound, but then the process usually isn’t such an interesting or worthwhile one, either. Aloha started off years ago as a poppier Do Make Say Think, weaving heavy jazz influences into vaguely post-rock/pop structures. It eventually developed into the more accessible Sugar before completing the progressive indie rock transformation with 2004’s Here Comes Everyone. With their latest release, Aloha cooped up in the mountains of Pennsylvania and came out the other side with a more expansive and consistent set of art rock, potent with glacial Flaming Lip-ish ballads ("Ice Storming”) and jovial, Cure homage indie pop like "Between the Walls” alike. The progressive element that has always made their music more interesting than a great deal of their contemporaries is still intact, but the melodies and Tony Cavallario’s vocals are notably stronger, less constricted than their older, more style-focused material. The lyrics can get a little nonsensical and inconsequential at times, but the missteps never get the chance to build or linger. All told, it’s a serious accomplishment from a band who’ve been fighting their way toward one, record by record and line-up by line-up, for almost half a decade.