The Spinanes

On their third album, singer/songwriter Rebecca Gates' Spinanes lay out a more melodic and lyrically enticing platter, nearly achieving the scarred beauty that their past two efforts merely hinted at within the grooves. Gates receives more than a little help from various studio pals this time around, assisting her in her obstinate quest for indie pop splendor. Arches and Aisles appends its folky lo-fi tunes with a solid backbeat, eliminating much of the oblique posturing from past albums and focusing instead on the crispness of the songs. Gates can still be elusive at times, even cryptic in her meandering wordplay, and some of the songs still crawl around barren indie territory with nowhere to go. But the sweet and sour samples mixed into Arches and Aisles make it the Spinanes least confining, and most listenable, album. [The CD was also released with bonus tracks.] ~ Michael Gallucci, All Music Guide