Pickwick, Cataldo

Listening to Pickwick’s new album LoveJoys comes with a jolt of recognition: This is only the Seattle band’s second full-length, and yet it has the feel of a group that’s been playing together on at least a dozen records. They’re certainly not new to the scene, considering Pickwick started in the mid-2000s as the folky acoustic solo project of frontman Galen Disston, but with a few lineup changes and stylistic shifts here and there, they’ve developed into a slick, polished live act over the years. Like their 2013 debut LP Can’t Talk Medicine, this new release mixes shimmery electro-pop with blue-eyed soul, and it bops along with an undeniable strut (Garrett Parker’s basslines are always pushed forward in the mix, and for good reason) and always has a cool darkness hanging over it.