Pitchfork

Lesser Gonzalez Alvarez's musical background includes electro-pop, droney country-folk, and a separate electronic side project, but he decides to do more with, um, lesser on "Mostly a Friend", the first mp3 from his Carpark debut, Why Is Bear Billowing?. The Baltimore resident (and member of the Wham City collective Dan Deacon sings about) relies almost entirely here on fluid acoustic-guitar arpeggios and lightly clicking percussion (castanets?) for the backing, for a nice example of the kind of daydreamer folk that Devendra Banhart inherited from Donovan. It's a short song-- roughly two minutes-- with simple, beatific lyrics: "There's a wreck up the way/ I hope it's not my foe/ My foe's mostly a friend," Alvarez sings in a high, naked voice. He'll be touring with Jana Hunter, which makes sense given her ties to B'more and Banhart; if the entire album is so frank and peace-loving, it'd be interesting to see Alvarez alongside somebody like Japan/Seattle naïve-pop singer/songwriter Pwrfl Power, too.