Louis

While many two-person groups reduce (or conflate, depending on your proclivities) rock down to its lead guitar, Louis is all rhythm section. That's entirely expected from namesake/singer/songwriter Louis Schefano, former drummer for Little Red Rocket and Remy Zero as well as the brains behind the one-off entity Regia (which produced the superb, but woefully overlooked The Art of Navigation). On this dreamy piece of indie pop, the overdubbed bass and keyboards show up just to lend a hand to his gently percussive acoustic strums (which form a de facto bassline) and Casey Cook's snaky, high-hat-heavy drumbeats. The result is equally claustrophobic and mesmeric, with Schefano's shuffling vocal melodies and repeated rhythms winding tightly into infinity. Once it hits its stride, the song never loses its sense of motion or its swaying momentum, although Louis's vortical lull has always been deceptive. The chorus ultimately proves a little less self-effacing and a little more obstinate that it sounds: "It might be for my own good/ If I don't do what I should," Schefano sings before switching the pronouns and turning his introversion inside out. [Stephen M. Deusner]

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- pitchforkmedia.com