Le Futur Pompiste

2010 release from the Finnish Alt-Popsters. The uncommonly sophisticated sextet seemed to arrive from out of nowhere. Obvious kindred spirits with the likes of Stereolab, Broadcast and Komeda -- groups who combine old-fashioned melody and newfangled technology to create a timeless notion of pop. Their 2004 debut, Your Stories and Your Thoughts, might now be widely looked upon as one of the previous decade's most charming pop albums. Despite the extended gestation between records, their second full length sounds fresh, spontaneous and imaginative.