Splendid, Chris Kriofske, September 2, 2004

Delivering fifteen tracks in just 31 minutes, Casey Fundaro and Christopher Moll were nothing if not pertinent when they chose their name. They may have cheated a little, using two brief, mostly instrumental tracks ("Hello" and "Goodbye") as bookends and dropping three even shorter echoing piano interludes in between them, but this Southern Florida duo packs a wealth of ideas (both borrowed and imagined) into an immaculate, compact frame. They come off like a minor chamber-pop equivalent to The Postal Service in the process.

Timewellspent's main reference point is undoubtedly The Zombies' Odyssey and Oracle: no shortage of breathy vocals, melancholy demeanor and Farfisa organ here. Not since Eric Matthews has anyone attempted so blatant an homage, and so effectively captured such an ineffably sad, cathedral-like beauty. "Effigy" in particular does so with aplomb: whereas some songs musically articulate all the things the lyrics don't say, this one makes that very concept its lyrical content ("and you do not / want to tell me / but I know / and I'm understanding / all that you don't show"). When the song shifts into a glorious string-laden coda halfway through, you probably won't even care what's left unsaid.

Although it's not a Beatles cover, "I Want to Tell You" could almost be the Fab Four if jazz and bossa-nova, rather than skiffle and rockabilly, had been weaning influences upon them. "Probably" falls into a charmed, summery space somewhere between Ivy's laid-back indie-lounge and (gulp) Sergio Mendes, yet it's a good, unfussy pastiche. "Deora" and "I Want You" float by in spacy psych-pop gauze, like a boyish Pink Floyd (or a distaff Mazzy Star), oozing tremolo-heavy effects, mellotron-style flutes and surprising restraint. Such understatement even carries over to "Anyone to Be", which sounds like a John Hughes-era OMD single, but slowed down to LP speed. Only "Millionaire" and "Minor Poet" risk overt preciousness. The former, a Brian Wilson sandbox ballad, skirts it by being only a minute in length, while the latter benefits from a plush arrangement that bears the stamp of album mixer (and member of the like-minded Pernice Brothers) Thom Monahan.

I'm not sure how lucrative a career Fundaro and Moll can possibly make from mining this well-worn territory (it hasn't exactly worked wonders for Matthews) -- but if they continue to turn out character sketches as gripping, hooky and concise as "Sitting By The Window", I bet they'll have little trouble acquiring a dedicated following.

-- Chris Kriofske

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