Album Review: Lives and Treasure by Acrylics

Acrylics are all about vocals. The duo, Molly Shea and Jason Klauber, write and sing the songs, with the help of “contributing musicians” (though it’s unclear who plays what instrument). On their debut album, Lives and Treasure, the two split vocal duties, while lending backups here and there. The difference between their voices (beyond the obvious male/female distinction) sometimes also translates to a difference in song style, leading you to believe they each write the songs they sing.

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Acrylics are a modern band from Brooklyn that often sound like an old band from Anytown, U.S.A. They basically play soft-rock-- not the stylish brand of Phoenix, the psychedelic kind of Gayngs, the hazy Washed Out type, or the sly and subtle version favored by Destroyer. No, this is the broad and eclectic sort of soft-rock that might fall under the tastefully patterned umbrella of "adult-contemporary," a radio format mostly defined by what it isn't: punk, metal, hard rock, rap, and so on.

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Molly Shea and Jason Klauber, better known as the duo Acrylics, spent the better part of two years crafting their debut album, Lives and Treasure, with three producers, resulting in a set of songs far more polished than their first EP, All of the Fire. As on that release, synth pop and soft rock dominate here, but Acrylics’ sound is much wider than those two styles -- in fact, at times it’s eclectic to the point of being scattered. Shea and Klauber's approaches are distinct; she favors shimmery electro-pop and cooing vocals that evoke Kate Bush as much as they do Olivia Newton-John, while he trades in earnest, earth-toned vocals and acoustic guitars.

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