Phaser

The spacey meets the spiritual on the second effort by this D.C.-based four-piece, led by brothers Siayko and Boris Skalsky. Sometimes that combo yields little slices of heaven, as in the weightless “Gone Away,” in which a gentle, effected electric piano provides a bed of gospel-style chord changes for lyrics about loneliness and desolation. But tunes such as the churchy ballad “Sweet Marie” (complete with a choir-style chorus of “Shine your light on me”) and the acoustic guitar and sound effects of “Can’t Get You Out of My Mind” (think Floyd’s “Welcome to the Machine”) dig deep into the realm of cliché. The title track, with its warm, waltz-time arrangement and charming gospel chorus (“You’re so sweet, sweet, sweet, so sweet to me”) works fine for its first five minutes. But an additional 2:53 worth of breakdown, finale and coda with strings tops it all off with a load of schmaltz.