The Glands: The Glands

Imagine a similarly challenging but less eccentric Pavement or a less experimental member of the Elephant 6 collective, and you'll develop a pretty good feel for Athens, Georgia's The Glands. But even if it's best defined by subtraction, that doesn't make The Glands any less of a band, as its self-titled sophomore album handily proves. At moments a dead ringer for Stephen Malkmus—never more so than on the arresting album-opener "Livin' Was Easy"—singer Ross Shapiro lends his vocals to an assortment of pop-oriented material as varied as the straightforward "When I Laugh" and the oddly danceable "I Can See My House From Here." Though it started as a two-man, studio-only project, The Glands here sounds like a proper band, albeit one more comfortable with the shifty, multi-layered "Swim" (a standout track) than with the guitar crunch of "Work It Out." Likewise, Shapiro sounds more at home with the evocative nonsense lyrics of the lovely "Mayflower" than with the more direct "Straight Down." But even if all the kinks have yet to be worked out, the album contains enough remarkable moments to make its weaker ones seem more inconsequential with each listen. In a cluttered indie-pop market, The Glands flat-out demands your attention.