Letting Up Despite Great Faults

Had Ben Gibbard and Jimmy Tamborello known what impact putting programmed beats to blushing lyrics sung with a tender voice would have on music, they could have made a fortune with the patent. L.A.'s Letting Up Despite Great Faults show their softness even in their name, not to mention Postal Service as an influence, along with the other 300 or so artists listed on their MySpace page. Thankfully, they're wise enough to look at more than a few of those names for inspiration on their self-titled album. The follow-up to an EP that Gibbard himself gave thumbs up to, Letting Up is awash in wistful melodies, layers of shoegaze guitars, ringing synthesizers and a static-y drum machine. "In Steps" follows the Radio Dept. blueprint by providing feel-good melancholy with a snapping beat, droopy bass and pensive vocals, whereas "Pause" swells with analogue synths and placid strumming like M83 often does. But LUDGF know better than to fall into any sort of formula. "Sun Drips" may pick up an acoustic, but they subtly incorporate keyboard strokes and a breezy hum so that it doesn't spoil the mood, and "Release" is a straight, mid-tempo ballad immersed in a wash of distortion and reverb. Letting Up Despite Great Faults prove their name wrong by turning in an album short on faults and high on that warm fuzzy they intended to spark.