Luxury Pond

Playfully heartfelt, Toronto, ON's Dan Goldman is a uniquely gifted writer whose off-kilter songs are replete with dreamy whimsy on this string-drenched effort. With gifted vocalist Daniela Gesundheit (Snowblink) by his side and Owen Pallett arranging strings, Goldman swims in visionary skill on this record, a bold amalgamation of pop innocence and abstract expression. With his guitar and deceptively plain voice, Goldman wades through a stream-of-consciousness with joyful curiosity, sussing out strange realizations on coyly executed folk songs like "Dear Shark" and "Truest Nature." Though lighter sonically and free of bravado, Goldman's work occasionally recalls Andrew Bird, particularly in the poetic sleight-of-hand employed in "Boulders" or the bubbling "The Bones." None of it's accessible, per se, but with the St. Kitts String Quartet soaring behind them, Luxury Pond glide through their music like parachutists, defying gravity with an uncertain grace.