by Dan Goldin (@post_trash_)
Washington, DC's The North Country are getting ready to release their third album, In Defense of Cosmic Altruism, a title that fits as well as any. The project, led by Andrew Grossman (and featuring members of BRNDA, Br'er, Baby Bry Bry, etc), opt for a maximalist approach to indie pop, swelling each element to sonic completeness. Everything sounds huge, but nothing is quite as it seems. Toying with oddball structures and expansive psych grandeur, The North Country add layers upon layers of avant-pop texture with an impressive clarity.
"Respectably, Desperately," the album's second single and the grandest of gestures, opens with a gorgeous horn section (saxophone, trumpet, trombone, baritone saxophone), a twinkling piano, and a delicately brushed rhythm that's almost too good to be true. Prepare to swoon, it only gets better. Shuffling like the first dance at the classiest of weddings, Grossman croons over the construct of time, love, and chance encounters. As his gentle voice sings, "will get the best of me, so respectably" over the lush Sinatra like orchestration, you can feel the casual longing with every sweeping note. A pop song from a forgotten era, The North Country have really outdone themselves on this one and we're enamored.