----- "Please life, once again, let me coast along / And follow the pretty songs," pleads Mascott, a.k.a. Kendall Jane Meade, on the opening (and title) song of Follow the Sound. It's not much to ask, and there's no evidence that life has been denying this request to any of the scores of singer-songwriters who lately have been composing albums of loungey, folky, poppy-not-rock ballads. But as this album bears out, Mascott (who used to be a member of the all-female rock quartet Juicy) is not just coasting.

----- Coming on the heels of an EP, the ten songs (of which she wrote eight) on her first long-player turn out to be sturdier than they initially seem, and benefit from understated—but sophisticated—production and accompaniment by such indie notables as Jim O'Rourke, Lauren Feldsher (Viva Satellite, Air Miami), Jeffrey Baron (Ladybug Transistor), Noel Kupersmith (Chicago Underground Quartet), Joan Wasser (the Dambuilders) and Sally Timms. Melo-dies are gently enhanced by such touches as a contrapuntal acoustic bass on "Keeper of Secrets," a honed guitar riff on "The Rays" and a dulcet piano hook on "Costume Ball," a well-appointed tale of possibly glamorous love—the tracks faintly echo Heavenly, Suzanne Vega and Joni Mitchell, respectively. These are pretty songs, indeed, but prettiness isn't the only appeal of Follow the Sound. "Weight of the World" wraps its easygoing melody around a braying electrical-short pulse, and on "The Bells of the Night," the opening chimes yield to squalling violin and drum outbursts that build until Mascott is keeping her cool above the maelstrom as if she were a Chelsea Girl. Most of Follow the Sound is balmy, but such dynamic moments establish that Mascott is much more than a breathy singer of wispy tunes.

----------– Mark Jenkins