What if Belle and Sebastian had hailed from Minneapolis instead of the UK? They might sound a lot like Walker Kong. There Goes the Sun has that same preciousness that fuels B and S, but the album makes references to The US Constitution and the President rather than vicars or whatever. Oh, I'll admit, the whole album isn't If You're Feeling Sinister. In fact, Walker Kong's influences are pretty diverse -- "New Fallout Fashions" sounds like ABC or the Human League or something -- but it's pop music's pop in any case.

"Vivian Girls" is the most vivacious track here. It starts out catchy and only gets catchier, alluding to the work of Henry Dargers but in a sort of nostalgic way, like "Ah, remember the Vivian Girls? They were great, weren't they?" The instrumentation is sparse and bubbly, with the mandatory clapping sound in the background. The boy-girl vocals are demure, almost purring. I also like "New Fallout Fashions." Its new wave roots are clear; mildly funky, mildly disco and loaded with retro-synth flavor, it wouldn't have seemed at all out of place in 1980. Again we find the boy-girl vocals, but here they sound more like the Thompson Twins. "New Photographer Friend" is a more muted affair, with mellow horns and dreamy vocals creating a sort of lazy summer day effect. It's in songs like this that the Belle and Sebastian effect is most evident. "Kissing Booth", the album's final track, is similar. It starts in a gauzy, soft light that becomes more focused when the folksy violin enters. It never breaks a sweat tempo-wise, which allows the album to come down nicely.

Walker Kong sounds like a band that is satisfied with its current lot in life. A sort of confidence pervades There Goes the Sun, as if every note turned out to be precisely what they wanted. And it's not bad stuff, not bad at all. Give it a listen.