Big Deal

Add Date: January 24 

Artist: Big Deal 

Album: Lights Out 

Label: Mute 

Genre: Rock, pop 

Comments: For the UK-based duo Big Deal, less is more: London-born Alice Costelloe and California native Kacey Underwood turn two voices and two guitars into masterful bedroom pop on Lights Out, their full-length debut on Mute. It's pretty difficult to take the simple guitar-and-vocal scheme and make truly interesting music, but Costelloe and Underwood have devised a fascinating album. Without the potential clutter of a full band, the songs have plenty of room to develop; yet when a lush, rich melody is needed to flesh out a tune, their guitar work capably takes care of that.

Both soothingly pleasant and musically adventurous, Lights Out is worth a listen--in particular, try tracks 2, 1, 5 and 8.