Ramona Falls

In a recent Wire article, the already maligned term "hypnagogic pop" was coined by David Keenan to pigeonhole the sound of bands like Emeralds and Pocahaunted. While his "dream pop hallucination of the '80s" tag doesn't exactly nail down Brent Knopt's expansive and detail-rich vision, there are definitely wispy tendrils from that decade touching its edges. Intuit is Knopt's first solo excursion from the Menomena compound, making him the last of his trio to venture out. Unlike band-mate Danny Seim's stripped-down Lacktherof efforts, Knopt recruited a small army of West Coast pals to help with his project. The result is a cycle of songs that combine the Menomena brand of hooks-a-plenty with the aforementioned traces of OMD, Modern English and even Howard Jones. The essence of those artists, and of Ramona Falls, is an emotional openness married to a slightly cool distance that blunts the earnestness. If not hypnagogic then at least hipgnotic?