Cindy Free Advice

Limited Black vinyl repress (500 copies)!The lead singer and main songwriter of Cindy, Karina Gill, started the group after picking up a guitar and singing for the first time in 2016. The project went on to release an eponymous, self-produced debut album in 2018. Returning the same rhythm section and adding a dedicated keyboardist, Cindy's second album, Free Advice, showcases the group's unusual amalgam of indie pop and dedicated slowcore inspirations. The 11-track, 36-minute set goes by quickly but also languidly with mostly plodding tempos alongside vocals that come across like half-spoken, distracted thoughts. At the same time, many of the band's tunes have the hooks and slogans of classic indie pop -- if accidentally played at a too-slow rpm. Opening track "Discount Lawyer," for instance, features churning guitar and a rhythmically syncopated melody that delivers lines like "You sound tonight/Like a discount lawyer/Talk is cheap/You can trust me on that/'Cause the bill when it comes/It's got my name on it" as if underwater. The singer/guitarist is also joined on the song by humming keys, a spare tambourine or hi-hat, and measure-marking bass drum that occasionally expands to full, muffled kit. Much of the album continues in kind -- subtly catchy and half asleep -- with exceptions coming in the form of tracks like the brisk and fuzzy "Wrong Answer," which embraces a hazy, uptempo punk, and the strummy, shaker-accompanied "Falcon Heavy." Standout entry "A Song in French" falls somewhere in between those and the rest, with its midtempo wistfulness and Casio-type keyboard line clearly indicating heartbreak for those who can't translate. Attractively gloomy and ramshackle, Free Advice's reticent pop disarms much more often than not. - allmusic.com