Downpilot – Like You Believe It
Seattles Downpilot essentially multi-instrumentalist Paul Hiraga, plus producer/percussionist Tucker Martine charmed critics with 2003s Leaving Not Arriving, though efforts to peg the band along roots/Americana lines now appear premature, if not erroneous. Hiragas a student of Americana, all right, but its the pop end of the spectrum where he takes his residency, and Like You Believe It channels some of pops purest purveyors. Some are iconic; the influence of Lovin Spoonful, for example, can be detected in several songs (for example, the piano/guitar motif of Slipstream). Others are of more recent vintage; the riffy, plangent anthem Cataracts exudes the same majestic vibe that coursed through the best Gin Blossoms and Trip Shakespeare tunes. Elsewhere, images of Nils Lofgren, Harry Nilsson and Jeffs Tweedy and Buckley flit past, but Hiragas hybrid is seamless, a tingly blend of melancholy and melody, bristles and buoyancy, art and atmosphere.