Album review: Rachel Zeffira, The Deserters (RAF)

As half of Cat's Eyes, Rachel Zeffira made an intriguing debut last year with the duo's self-titled album of Spector-esque dream-pop.

On The Deserters, she puts her classical training to more conventionally atmospheric use, on a series of dainty songs whose chamber-pop arrangements support ethereal, breathy vocals strongly reminiscent of Julee Cruise's work with David Lynch and Angelo Badalamenti. The title-track is typical: rippling waves of piano, akin to Hans-Joachim Roedelius or Ludovico Einaudi, are gradually augmented by oboe and strings, among which Zeffira lurks diffidently, like a Canadian equivalent of the current wave of Scandinavian quasi-classical ice-maiden pop. It's all warmly wrought and pretty, if a trifle insubstantial at times.

Download: The Deserters; Front Door; Star