Vanderslice is one of the finest and certainly most off-beat songwriters you will hear this year. Touring with Death Cab For Cutie has brought him to the attention of a larger audience, but his music is made for a smaller room. Almost postmodern lyrics (the album begins with 'Being Joan Crawford at 21 was easy' and ends with a track titled 'CRC7173, Affectionately'), it's introverted stuff without the noodley edge that appears so popular these days. His voice is fragile, but high melodies, subtle beats and manufactured sounds on tracks like 'Plymouth Rock' and 'New Zealand' let him off vocally. 'Exodus Damage' points to Beck at his quirkiest, but overall Vanderslice's influences are hard to finger. It's certainly not formulaic and, at times, the addition of organs and glockenspiels give it a Napolean Dynamite gloss, but for lo-. fans, there is also a lot here to be enjoyed.

Download: 'Letter To The East Coast', ?Exodus Damage', 'The Golden Gate' Una Mullally