After Nights Without Sleep

Power pop has a cult following for a reason - there's usually a genuine darkness lurking underneath those deceptively sunny melodies, and Curtains For You's After Nights Without Sleep is exceptional in its exploration of both ends of the spectrum. The band has been making some impressive headway in the year and a half since they released their last record, including handpicked slots on sold-out shows with The Posies and The Head And The Heart, as well as making the list of Seattle's Top 10 new artists of in City Arts magazine. From the opening notes of the impossible-to-remove-from-your-head Daisy through the bouncy What Good Am I Now? to the sweeping movements of The Wasteland, the jaunty Bronx Zoo Hobo and the swooning closer Photographic Memory, these are songs that are as fun as they are emotional, as dark as they are light. It's the contrast that makes them pop - and stand out as genuine classics.