This indie folk collective from Connecticut, led by core members Jason Krugg and Carmen Champagne, beats a lot of other pretenders at their game with catchy and creative songs and a lyrical honesty that is hard to beat. When listening to this band, you get a feeling they’ve lived their songs — at times, it seems like a case of TMI, but it’s better to fault on the side of confessional and real than try to drown us in fake authenticity.

After an excellent debut record The Last Record Party and a solid EP, Coming Home, they’ve have returned with another slab of midnight confessions set to music. They’ve also expanded their sound, adding more instrumentation to the songs. Instead of cluttering the songs, the extra instruments simply add to the music.

“Earth, Hurricane, Flood And You” opens with a snappy rhythm and some subtle slide guitar work evoking the blues. “The Next Indie Boy” starts off slow and builds to a faster pace. “Dizzy In My Hips Swinging”, well, swings and has a country twang to it, while “Miller Don’t You Care” features more late-night confessions and a ripping electric guitar solo at its coda. “Until Then” and “Bigger Than” are more fragile confessions. “Road To Joy” throws a banjo into the mix, while the title track that closes the album is noir set to music.

It’s great to hear a band expand on its sound while still retaining the core appeal of their music. If you’re a fan of the darker side of indie-folk, then you should definitely check this out.

(self-released, no address provided)