Beachwood Sparks

Beachwood Sparks quietly rode off into the sunset after dropping Make the Robot Cowboys Cry in 2002. Although the band never officially broke up, the six-song release feels like its swan song. The once peppy outfit totally submerged its cosmic American indie-pop in a Day-Glo wash of reverb and phantom jangle no doubt inspired by Van Dyke Parks' trippy Song Cycle album. A languid melancholy hovers over the entire release, especially the nearly seven-minute "Ponce de Leon Blues."