The gorgeously melodic baroque folk-pop of this Boston-based quartet - Don Mitchell, Auyon Mukharji, Harris Paseltiner, and David Senft - is delivered in a manner reminiscent of the Beach Boys, Fleet Foxes and Simon & Garfunkel.
The purity and hymnal quality of their four-way harmonies means that however dystopian the lyrics may be there is never any danger of them sounding pessimistic.
The wholesomeness (with just a hint of tweeness) is a large part of the charm even when they implicitly pose big questions like 'Are we resigned to fate or are we able to change the future?'
The title track laments that "The world has flattened out" but they assert that "It's not ever too late" to change in Futures and the affirmative Hold Your Head Up High is unambiguously optimistic.
We may be a long way from the Best of the Best of Times but their determination to look on the bright side means that the post-apocalyptic visions come wrapped in a reassuringly shiny package.
