Audio Mixer: Brett Sanderson.

Recording information: The Farmhouse.

Indie rockers Headlights make lovely melodic pop that draws on new wave, 1960s pop, shoegaze, the Velvet Underground, and the indie tunesmithery of contemporaries like Belle and Sebastian. SOME RACING, SOME STOPPING, Headlights' second full- length release, is a beautifully realized statement of the band's aesthetic. Charming boy-girl harmonies, propulsive guitar riffs, swirling synths, and a penchant for catchy hooks mark this disc as an accessible and compulsively listenable gem.

Headlights' second album Some Racing, Some Stopping is a whole bunch of fun. The group builds on the promise of their first album and consolidates their strengths into a peppy, pretty and satisfying romp through ten songs that will have fans of light and breezy indie pop smiling like crazy. The album is split between up-tempo tracks perfect for indie night at your local teen club, happy go lucky songs with glockenspiels, and sweeter than sugar ballads that might nudge your heartstrings but never tug too hard. All delivered with a huge cheery cherry on top in the form of Erin Fein's feather light and lovely vocals (though Tristian Wright's aren't bad but they are more workmanlike where hers are heavenly). Almost every song sounds like it could lead off a mixtape aimed at warming the heart of someone special; there is a giddy joy that permeates the record from start to finish. When the drums kick in and are joined by a chorus of bells on "Get Yer Head Around It" or when the doo wop harmonies of "So Much for the Afternoon" take flight, you'll be walking on air. Even the sad songs like the title track manage to be lighter than air thanks to the incredibly rich and layered production and the band's sense of restraint and ease. There are a lot of bands playing indie pop in 2008, but very few do it as well as Headlights do on Some Racing, Some Stopping. ~ Tim Sendra