Taking an entrenched understanding of Jorge Ben, percolating the groove of Dirty Projectors and incorporating all there is to learn from Italo disco and Brazilian Tropicalia, Pendleton, Oregon-born guitarist and singer Paul Collins crafts a sound bereft of irony and deep, deep, deep with heart. Rounded out by Perrin Cloutier (drums) and Mike Lawless (guitar, bass, Farfisa, Moog), Soft Landing plummets into your mind while expanding out into the stratosphere.

Armed with a variety of experience (be it as leader of the modestly titled Paul Collins Dance Machine, creator of numerous cassette releases of droning experimentation or bass player and general rabble-rouser in Beirut), Collins cuts through any stylized muck on Soft Landing's self-titled debut to find something essentially human and teeming with emotion. With the help of producer Griffin Rodriguez (Beirut, Need New Body, Icy Demons), the trio fashioned an album thick with low end, unafraid to let a beat turn into a dance and possessing an extremely loose vibe. Only on "Pendleton Woolen"--the album's centerpiece--does the tempo get low and soft.