Fool's Gold

Add Date: August 16 

Artist: Fool's Gold 

Album: Leave No Trace 

Label: IAMSOUND 

Genre: Rock, pop 

Comments: When we first met Fool's Gold, upon the release of their self-titled debut roughly two years ago, the band was a sprawling collective, encompassing some 12-15 members. Now, for sophomore release Leave No Trace, the L.A. act has been condensed into a tight 5-piece, and Israeli-born frontman Luke Top has switched from Hebrew lyrics to English. Yet the globe-spanning influences that we heard on Fool's Gold--African guitar, Caribbean and Middle Eastern rhythms, '80s New Wave, classic soul--are still as prevalent as before.

Leave No Trace will bring to mind many bands--certainly Yeasayer and Vampire Weekend, while Dirty Projectors and Merriweather Post Pavilion-style Animal Collective are only slight stretches--but without sounding exactly like anything you've heard recently. It's a very good album throughout, but focus on "The Dive", "Street Clothes" and "Wild Window".