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It's a classic music fable: three unsuspecting young American men (a pair of twins Matthew & Jesse Kivel and their childhood chum Ben Usen) study in London for a year and come out come masters of pop music.
"Bloomsbury" is four sweet, heady doses of wonderfully orchestrated chamber pop. The EP's closer, "Eminent Victorians", could find kinship to Belle & Sebastian's catalogue and "Ms Bentwich" (the second track on the band's second release) is infused with a Beatles' sprightliness. I can't imagine a fan of The Kinks not finding something to cherish on this recording.
The trio are smart enough to fill out their sound with talented players slipping in violins, cellos, flutes and french horns. Their craftiest inclusion is the mastering and mixing team of Jeff Lipton (who's worked with Magnetic Fields) and Pete Weiss (who recorded the Velvet Underground's Moe Tucker). The production here is clear as crystal, as great pop should be.
As with the best pop music there's more going on here than you may first notice: apparently this is a song cycle about the Bloomsbury Group. But like all the best pop-music *it doesn't really matter what the songs are about*, all that matters is how good the music is. And the music found on this short-player is delightful.
Literally delightful. If the goal of pop music is to make you smile and lift your spirit then Princeton succeeds in spades. Their music seems carefree and that feeling is infectious, perfect summer afternoon music.
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Princeton:
http://www.princeton-band.com/
http://www.myspace.com/princetonmusic
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