Blue Cartoon

Blue Cartoon

September Songs (Aardvark)

Veteran pop doctors Blue Cartoon have assembled all the parts on album No. 4, the local quintet's first since 2002's The Wonder of It All. Boasting impeccably shimmering production, a well-versed ear for the little harmonic details, and a handful of songs ripe for cerebral lodging, September Songs is no May-December fling. Still primarily fueled by the nectar-soaked promise of vintage California pop, Blue Cartoon also taps into greater Americana with strategically placed bursts of fiddle, mandolin, and steel guitar. Ably filling the playlist spot between Matthew Sweet and the Jayhawks, "Just a Little More" is startling in its full-bodied radio readiness. The album's midsection is punctuated with "She's a God" and "Dreaming Again," two unabashedly starry-eyed longings that nail your sentimentality receptors before cynicism can climb out of bed. September Songs could stand a trimming by two or three songs for brevity's sake, but its most memorable moments are pure pop bliss.