Nedelle and Thom

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• Summerland
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I cannot get enough of Summerland. It's a bit embarrassing, actually. I keep finding myself driving around, blasting at top volume what may be the most white-bread music ever -- all girl-group harmonies, softly syncopated percussion, "Dear Diary" lyrics, and a beat copped from a slow dance at my mom's high school prom. Certainly not a badass summer cruising soundtrack. But Nedelle's winsome vocals creep under the skin and set up camp with a vengeance that belies the album's quiet, unassuming vibe. In fact, by the time the carefully plaintive "Care for Me" cascades into an unexpectedly harmonized chorus of multipart "whoa"s, you find yourself wondering who this stupid fellow is who doesn't really care for Nedelle. The album starts to lose steam midway through with a couple of tracks ("You Know" and "Sun in My Eyes") that buckle a little under the weight of their own retro cuteness. But that's only relative to the dense, expert musicality and, yes, downright adorable tunes that pervade the rest of Summerland.