This five-song set of slow and spooky roots pop is only the second release from this Cleveland band since it formed seven years ago. Lazy, lush, and low-fi instrumentation floats around warm and weird ballads like "Captain" and "Mister," as guitars, ukulele, mandolins, banjos, drums, lap steel, and violins vie for attention behind frontman Brian Strazek's sallow voice. Empty Furnace Bucket is peaceful and undeniably pretty, but the EP's best song is the only rocker here: "Red Shirt," on which the four-piece blasts into big, bombastic, no-frills rock & roll that recalls their excellent and energetic 2007 debut, If It Ain't Fixed ... Don't Break It. Come to think of it, that was good advice. — Keith Gribbins
