St. Lola in the Fields

High Atop the Houses and the Towns (Nettwerk)

By Jonathan Shipley
Published: October 9th, 2010 | 7:00am

You known you’ve made at least a small ripple in the alt-pop pool when one of your songs can be heard on the soap opera Days of Our Lives. Better yet, Everwood. Better still, One Tree Hill. Indeed, St. Lola in the Fields—aka Cindy Brouwer and Jeremy Bose—has quietly made a name for themselves with their self-styled brand of pop folk, full of musicality and songwriting know-how. The tunes lend themselves well to those times of day when you just want a little something to perk you up as you do your day-to-day tasks—a sing-along while you’re doing the laundry or whistling to a happy melody as you pack your kids’ lunch.

The melancholy album opener “Fly” is reminiscent of Feist, Brouwer’s warm voice melded to a sweet piano melody. If St. Lola in the Fields contributed a song to, say, a Kia car commercial, “Fly” would lend itself nicely to it. “Sunny” is just that, with Jack Johnson-esque guitar strums and pleasant lyrics.

High Atop the Houses and the Towns isn’t earth shattering, but it is a solid release of lovely songs to put a smile on anyone’s face, to pick you up when you’re down, or to tempt you to buy, say, a Kia.

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St. Lola in the Fields MySpace page

Nettwerk Records