One Track Mind

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After releasing a couple of EPs over the past four years, Princeton made their full-length debut in late September with Cocoon of Love. The band has its roots in Santa Monica, California, where twin brothers Jesse & Matt Kivel met Ben Usen as kids. During a year spent together in London, the trio decided to parlay their longstanding friendship into a musical endeavor, adding drummer David Kitz to the lineup upon their return to Los Angeles. Their collaboration has yielded a brand of indie-pop that is pared down in its approach with occasional instrumental flourishes, as on the lead track from Cocoon of Love, “Sadie and Andy.”

This track finds the band dipping into the chamber-pop tradition made revived in the indie world by acts like Belle & Sebastian and Tindersticks, but whose roots run deep to the ’60s tunes of acts ranging from The Kinks to Serge Gainsbourg. Princeton is joined by female vocalist Meredith Metcalf on the song, whose lithe performance adds a certain daintiness to the boy/girl harmonies throughout. Musically, the song is built around lovely baroque melodies executed by strings, acoustic guitar, trumpet, and what sounds like something approximating a harpsichord. With its carefree tone and effervescent flounce, “Sadie and Andy” is instantly endearing thanks to its timeless charm; the sound here is so classic, one could easily be fooled into thinking Princeton was an act from an entirely different era.