Foam Castles
Flotilla
Teenarena Records

Click to hear: “A Quarter Till”

Foam Castles is like the Holy Donut of Portland’s music scene. Guided by the voice and guitars of songwriter Tyler Jackson, the group’s been releasing irresistible indie-rock confections for years. By now you know that every album will have at least a dozen delicacies you’ll like, and Flotilla is no exception.

Jackson’s distinctive recipe calls for jangly guitars that may get loud (but never violent), easy-going beats, soft keys in the background, and laidback vocals delivering lines of neo-Beat poetry. “Downrigger affiliate mojo is on my mind / all the time,” Jackson sings on the opener and first single. Can’t say I have a clue what that means, but by the time he reaches the gorgeous chorus, can’t say I care, either.

“What It Isn’t Anymore” sounds like it was lifted straight off a Tobin Sprout solo album, but “A Quarter Till” heads in a direction I’ve never heard Jackson explore before: country. Mercifully, it’s fantastic, buoyed by big hooks, haunted by Shannon Allen’s cello and swaddled in Tyler Quist’s synth and organ notes. Drummer DJ Moore is money throughout Flotilla and Peet Chamberlain’s piano makes several songs extra tasty (especially the poppy “Ageless Advisor”).

Jackson seems to be shunting most of his more rock-oriented material to Endless Jags, the less restrained and sober project he plays in with co-frontman Oscar Romero. “Chicken” approaches that territory, but most of Flotilla is mellower. There’s less experimentation than on previous releases, but when songs get a little weird, as happens toward the end of “Detail,” it proves the adage that less is more.

Aside from the finely wrought guitar outro on closer “The Least We Can Do,” contributed by Metal Feathers’ Jay Lobley, there’s no space in these songs for solos or other unaccompanied instrumentation. I wouldn’t say these tracks need to be longer, but a little more air in the dough couldn’t hurt the flavor.

— Chris Busby

Foam Castles plays SPACE Gallery on Sat., Oct. 10, at 6 p.m., as part of the Waking Windows festival.