Chairlift: Something

Label: Columbia

More than three years after Does You Inspire You (and the iPod) vaulted Brooklyn emigrants Chairlift into the upper echelons of indiedom, the band -- now a duo after the departure of founding member Aaron Pfenning -- returns with Something, an album that is coyly selective with its '80s influences: not this band or that band, think more like the way Siouxsie Sioux or Cocteau Twins would retain a vague Goth vibe even in their softer moments. Leavened by the soulful warmth of Caroline Polachek's vocals, the electronic tracks that make up these 11 songs never come off as cool or clinical: "Wrong Opinion" could be a lost Tears for Fears tune, with its burbling metallic percussion; "Cool as a Fire" is dream-pop at its dreamiest, Polachek sinking into deep beds of synths in a bittersweet swoon, singing "Nothing ever lasts forever." And when your album is mostly electronic, the use of an unadorned acoustic instrument -- such as the guitar on "Frigid Spring" -- is wickedly effective. Nothing on Something appears destined to sell gadgets, and that may be why it sounds so good!