worth the time and effort

Letters to Cleo (Cherrydisc)

Aurora Gory Alice

By Kory Wilcoxon

Here's a band with no distinguishing scars or bruises that could easily slip through your fingers if you're not willing to give them your time.

If you do, you'll hear some fresh, inventive pop that seems to float around a room, too bouncy to settle down, too light to sink.

Letters to Cleo, which hails from the Boston area, gets its charm from lead singer Kay Hanley. Hanley's vocals have a tomboyish feel to them, and her singing is innocuous and playful. Most of Cleo's songs are the musical equivalent of a Super Fun Ball, zigzagging around with boundless energy underscored by subtle intensity. Tunes like "I See" and "Here and Now" are slices of pop heaven driven home by Hanley's irrepressible voice.

Aurora Gory Alice is not the model of consistency, but Letters to Cleo could have done a lot worse. What they have is short, sweet and fun.