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Apr 15, 2022 Web Exclusive By Matthew Berlyant

Back in 2019, which seems like ages ago given everything that has happened in the world since, Ridgewood, Queens indie-pop stalwarts Jeanines took the world (or at least the indie-pop world) by storm with their absolutely incredible debut album. The genre hadn’t sounded this refreshed and frankly, punchy and catchy, in many years, reminding this listener of not just Slumberland’s halcyon days of the late ’00s/early ’10s guitar-pop boom (think Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Dum Dum Girls, et al.) but just as much of ’80s and ’90s forebearers on Sarah, K, older Slumberland bands, et al. as well. And they did it with just a singer/guitarist (Alicia Jeanine) and a drummer (Jed Smith).

So what do they do for an encore? Well, they’ve made perhaps an even better album. Flying by in 21 minutes, these 13 songs here will have you playing them on repeat for hours and will get stuck in your head when you’re not listening. While the press release cites ’60s UK folk boom influences like Fairport Convention and Vashti Bunyan, it’s more subtle than overt here. If one were to put tracks from their debut as well as this new album on shuffle, one would be hard pressed to tell which song was on which album. Between this album and the also fabulous new album by the San Francisco-based The Reds, Pinks, & Purples, Slumberland is putting out its best material in many years and in its fourth decade, is still going strong. (www.jeanines.bandcamp.com)

Author rating: 8.5/10