Pluto Review

The thing everybody eventually copied is here in its earliest complete form, a voice run so hard through processing that it stops sounding like singing and starts sounding like weather. Turn On the Lights is the peak, a song about looking for a woman who might not exist, delivered with an ache the technology should have removed and somehow amplifies. Same Damn Time is the hardest thing on it and became a phrase people said for a year.

Magic and Astronaut Chick lean pop and land. The writing is not the point and never claims to be, mostly repetition of a few phrases until they become melodic units, which is a legitimate method rather than a shortfall. Where it dates is the mixing, big and glossy in the manner of 2012 radio, and a couple of guest choices aimed squarely at crossover. A likeable, slightly overdressed debut with two songs that are still untouchable.