Winterpills

Fronted by the coed duo of Flora Reed and Philip Price, Massachusetts’ Winterpills play melancholy indie-pop in the vein of Elliot Smith on their 10-track, self-titled debut.

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Soft vocals harmonize over acoustic guitar on the album’s haunting opener “A Benediction,” with Reed’s angelic and evocative voice floating through the background. Her voice is one of the band’s assets, adding a certain elegance to the songs that would otherwise be absent. The tone quickly shifts toward more cheery territory though with “Laughing,” and for the most part the disc continues to alternate between happy-go-lucky pop songs and sorrowful, atmospheric ballads.

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The strongest piece is the album’s centerpiece, “Want the Want.” The layered voices, string swells and piano accents work wonders, building to a dense mélange of driving instrumentation and non-verbal vocals. “Pills for Sara” follows with Price’s quavering voice and lyrics dealing with drug addiction. The track’s minimalist verses build into rollicking choruses that further show off the juxtaposed voices of Price and Reed. These two songs exemplify the type of sad, introspective number that the band does so well. Unfortunately, the more upbeat tracks are often a little too generic. There just isn’t enough charm to pull the listener in. “Threshing Machine” comes off like generic ’90s alternative rock, while “Portrait” falls into more twee/alt-country territory. But forgiving a few slight missteps, Winterpills is a strong, promising debut.