I drove down to Seattle about mid-month in January, and in typical form my iPod was on shuffle. I had tossed a bunch of albums on it from my FensePost file, and was looking forward to some new tunes. One band in particular popped up a few times, with interesting synths, clean guitar licks and slightly higher pitched vocals. Each time, the band caught my ear, I had to check out who it was — and it was Jonquil.

Tim Williams‘ lovable pop is borderline contemporary, but only to the point of it being accessible to a wider audience than your standard indie pop band. Careful Love, his new album out this week on Dovecote Records, won’t likely be on your parent’s pre-set station on their car radio, but you might find common ground if you pop the CD in while sharing a ride with them. Then again, you could probably say the same about indie sensation Telekinesis. But the two artists share a little more …