P:ano’s When It’s Dark and It’s Summer was a promising collection of chamber pop that sounded far too mature for a debut. The Den, the second album from the Vancouver quartet, is similarly baffling. This is not the sound of a band discovering itself, this is a band with a firm vision that knows how to execute it.
The arrangements are diverse but consistent in the way they allow the music to breathe. Horns and strings fade in and out of the mix tastefully, supporting singers Nick Krgovich and Larissa Loyva’s complementary voices but never distracting from them.
At times reminiscent of Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci’s later work or a more subdued Rufus Wainwright but more often pleasantly original, P:ano’s newest is a slow-burning charmer. While the consistently mellow mood can grow a little wearying at times, you’d be hard pressed to find a nicer collection of lullabies.