BELIGHTED

The key iamthemorning duo of Marjana Semkina and Gleb Kolyadin were able to step into a professional studio environment for this followup to surprise hit "~", thanks in part to the contributions of Kickstarter backers. The end result was presumably an important learning experience for them, given that they were able to keep their recording career going afterwards and follow it up with the masterpiece Lighthouse, but I find that Belighted itself is a bit less interesting either than what preceded it or what followed. It's all very pretty, but there's a certain irony to a song here being called "The Simple Story", since it does feel like they are playing it safe and keeping things simple here rather than really stretching.

It's probably worth a listen for anyone who likes their particular chamber folk style of art rock, but at the same time I wouldn't put it on the level of either of their other two studio albums.