. While the album continues in the rich pop vein of Still Lost Bird Music's debut, Sargent Egyptian Girl
, it also includes a number of folk elements: banjos, fiddles, and acoustic guitars people the album throughout, giving it a pastoral foundation that melds with the poetic lyrics.August, like SLBM's debut, is full of gorgeous pop backdrops for Fink's voice. In the brief opener, "Storm," the echo-y vocals come out of a gauzy haze of acoustic guitar and organ. "Nightfall" is a slow, spare pop gem, with jangly guitar over chimes and the gentle beat of a bass and snare drum. "Luke Havergal" is set against a twangy backdrop of banjo and mouth harp. "A Garden By the Sea," maybe the album's best track, is a dark tune accentuated by a snaking electric guitar riff and an explosive harmonica solo. At its worst moments, the music and words conspire to indulgence; "The Stolen Child" sounds like it was pulled from a musical, and the melodrama of "Intrigue" is a bit overwrought. But at its best, August is like nothing else. "Lament For the Makers" is a super-catchy pop tune with a chorus in Latin; who does that?
August is unique and challenging, but it's still a beautiful and engaging listen. Not every track is a home run, but it's amazing that a project like this worked, and produced one of the best albums of 2011.
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is the solo pop vehicle for Simon Fink, a classically trained composer. One would think the music would reflect that classical training, but 
, his debut album, is more steeped in American rock and pop than Italian arias and German symphonies: the opening finger-picked guitar riff evokes The Replacements' "Unsatisfied"; the guitar solo in "The Dream of Falling" suggests Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues"; the various "la"s and "bop"s pay homage to pop music from Phil Spector to the Counting Crows. But the album that this ultimately makes me think of is Wilco's 
. Summerteeth is almost a lost gem, a pop masterpiece nestled between the alt-country of 
and 
and the experimental genius of 
and subsequent albums. Like Summerteeth, Sargent Egyptian Girl carries both of those influences - "Chocolate Heart" is permeated by fiddle riffs, while "French Lessons" is drenched in effects and synths. And like Summerteeth, Sargent Egyptian Girl is peopled with perfectly-crafted tunes, with the lyrics, melody, production and deliverable working together.