It's been over four years since the Forms unleashed their debut, Icarus, to quite some tastemaker acclaim. The band proved on the record that they were impressibly capable of spitting out skewed, subtle post-punk songs that were incredibly succinct -- it was a 10-song, 18-minute record with the longest track clocking in at 3:43 and the shortest at :15.

The band manage to stretch out their songs a little bit here for the long-awaited, self-titled followup, with twelve tracks making up a shade over a half-hour. The Forms seems to capitalize on the quieter, gentler moments of Icarus in that it finds the band simply crafting one delicate, piano-laced indie pop song after another delicate, piano-laced indie pop song. The atmosphere is more melodious and the songs, while still economically short and consequently disrupting the potential for huge buildups, float lightly and are easily digestible.

Wispy vocals gently rise and fall a number of times, as in the quaint "Focus." The band only break up one song into tracks once this time around, with "Blue Whale" benefiting from a weird intro-type Track 7 before breaking into its driven second part on Track 8. Constantly, the undercurrent of soft riffs and piano making up the consistently warm texture help push The Forms forward and change up just enough to prevent things from becoming completely monotonous as, after all, the tracks on the album all seem to share quite the same feel.

The songs on The Forms, while enjoyable, could certainly be a little more powerful. With some more boldness and maybe some more crescendo action going on here, the Forms would be a perfect fit for a group like the new wave of Sub Pop indie pop acts, but for now they're still merely pumping out moderately creative and overall decent -- if not a bit background-reared -- compositions.

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The Forms