Overlord

Essentially the vision of clever George Pasles, Overlord revel in the echoed, hazy indie pop that fans of the Smiths and early ’90s British bands like Adorable based their short but memorable careers on. There is much variation to the composition of the songs, but befitting the name, there is a definite vision of how everything should come together. Opener "Room Enough” is the blueprint of the Overlord sound, and it works wonderfully, with the slight British tinge of Pasles’ voice either enchanting or providing fodder for easy derision. "Give It Up! Let It Go!” comes closest to the Murmurs-era R.E.M. and combined with evocative, "Landlubber” furthers the notion that Pasles is a bit of a music historian. Hiding behind quips and big ideas — the liner notes state that "overlord is a federally-funded reason-based initiative” and with their e-mail address "all questions answered, all answers questioned” — Overlord actually have made a wonderful, if not too deep, piece of dreamy pop goodness. Its feet are firmly in the near past, but this could also easily stand among contemporary torch-bearers like Stars. Like the epic closer, "Stillbornagain,” The World Takes may be easy to encapsulate on surface, but it is only through time that its sheer sonic delights truly come forward.