The Happy Hollows self-released their first album Spells in October—satisfying months of local anticipation—and today they begin their month-long residency at Spaceland. Bassist Charles Mahoney speaks now about the new album, his new book on Latin America insurgencies and making friends with French people at CMJ. This interview by Britt Witt.

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That’s the weakness here: there are no surprises, lyrically or musically. Some well-placed vocal harmonies rise above the musical textures especially in the title track, but fangless feedback and keyboard fills only take up space. Anonymity becomes too familiar, too genre-bound; later songs begin to inhabit a similar tempo and feel, especially once the piano gets replaced by the guitar. There is still a definably Los Angeles sound in this album, and Orendy shows a lot of promise on his sophomore Frankel effort—but he needs to show some bite, too.

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