Chairs in the Arno

I managed to get through a number of promo CDs in my 1000+ miles of driving to/from/within the Midwest. Almost surprisingly, the single record I reached for most often was File Folder by St. Helena, California, quartet Chairs in the Arno. Their label, Mushpot Records, describes the album as a collection of "sweet, nerdy songs" but I think that's hardly a sufficient description.

Chairs in the Arno play smart and catchy synth-pop, somewhere along the lines of Looper or The Boy Least Likely To. Although their songs are often bittersweet and understated, they're also lovely and charming. The gang at 3hive described their boy/girl vocals as "like Hershey Kisses," and I'm not going to try and top that.

Chairs in the Arno - Size Thirty

File Folder is available from Mushpot Records.