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Apr 07, 2016 Frankie Cosmos By J. Pace

Flying the twee flag is perhaps a young person’s game, and Frankie Cosmos continues to play it like, say, an extremely spry Robert Pollard—prolifically and without much of a filter, her catalog now stacking band-and-studio recordings atop dozens of bedroom-to-Bandcamp affairs. In interviews, Cosmos (real name Greta Simone Kline) is quick to discount the size of said catalog, insisting that only a small percentage of it represents anything beyond a diary-esque purge, and besides, what about prolificacy is inherently praiseworthy? Duly noted—allow us, then, to praise her laidback pop sensibilities and universal storytelling, a welcome continuation of the introspective conversations started by twee originators like The Vaselines, twee propagators like Beat Happening, twee descendents like The Moldy Peaches, and whatever ‘80s and ‘90s indie-pop or twee-adjacent acts sprinkle your frame of reference.

“Too Dark” opens tempo-optional, plodding through its first section to withhold the real sugar: a perfect indie-pop coda, asking the universal question “do I belong?” and backed up with precious-infectious lyrical couplets like “I drink bad coffee/Hope that you’ll call me.” “Embody” is stellar, running rapid iterations of its hook, “embody all the grace and lightness,” Cosmos’ narrator celebrating a list of loved ones, envisioning an ideal self, coming right back to that hook enough times to graciously lighten your head. “It makes me/So happy/She embodies all the grace and lightness.”

“Interlude” is a new-puppy story in 46 seconds, somehow making lines like “They also love MoMo/Even though he’s not JoJo” absolutely heartbreaking over a sparse organ part. In its brevity maybe it summarizes exactly the kind of naive simplicity Cosmos delivers so deftly (and knowingly, one assumes—with just enough quirk and attitude to match those predecessors).

That heart on the sleeve, a stripped-down band that doesn’t get in the way, and Cosmos’ very cozy kinship with melody are what make this latest next thing as uplifting, unassuming, and utilitarian a collection of pop as the last, even as Cosmos continues to refine her craft. (www.ingridsuperstar.bandcamp.com)

Author rating: 7/10