Portland bedroom pop group A Weather is back with their second full-length album and follow-up to Cove, Everyday Balloons. Though the album came out last week on Team Love Records, we’re just now getting a taste of what it has in store for us through “Third Of Life” and “Giant Stairs”. With these songs, A Weather shakes some of the bedroom softness for a sound slightly louder. The increase isn’t substantial — say, from a 2 to a 3 — but on the volume scale, it’s noteworthy.

These progressions are most apparent in “Third Of Life”, which breaks into electric guitar strums on occasion. Front-man Aaron Gerber is again joined heavily by female co-vocalist Sarah Winchester, adding a most-loved harmony as the song builds from the quiet to the concluding electric guitar feedback. Likewise, “Giant Stairs” capitalizes on the male/female vocal harmonies, and like “Third Of Life” the song expands with and dabbles in spacey drones emphasized by feedback.

Cove was impressive; not in a long while had a bedroom pop album made such an impact thanks to phenomenal songs like “Spiders” and “Oh My Stars”. With “Third Of Life” and “Giant Stairs”, one gets the impression that Everyday Balloons may very well top their last one in power and awe.

Download: “Third Of Life” by A Weather

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Download: “Giant Stairs” by A Weather

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