Skating Club's gentle indie rock glimmers with the light of pure pop perfection and the fine-grain details of eccentric experience (singer/songwriter
Aubrey Anderson lives on a sailboat in Boston harbor, for goodness sake). Like
Belle & Sebastian's songs, the music on
Bugs & Flowers seems small, almost uncomfortably intimate. "Stockholm," for example, employs a quiet ambience that conjures nostalgic daydreams of a place and time that most people have never been -- the literal endless day that is the Nordic summer. "Come By or Call"'s melting organs give the song a '60s sheen that perfectly complements the
Nick Drake-ish vocals. And "I Returned to California" has to be the most bittersweet tune ever written about surfer girls and the Golden State. The whole affair is a bit sullen, but naïvely sweet; a journey that seems like a trip through the back pages of someone's memory, it's melancholy maybe, but still brings a sly smile to your face. ~ Charles Spano