Modest, literate pop songs often don’t get the attention they deserve. Like a family’s middle child, they’re often overlooked, left to tend to themselves. Songwriter David Steinhart, with brother Jeff on bass and keyboards, presents his carefully parsed observations on lost love and psychic dislocation with a minimum of fuss, recalling the warm vocal timbre of Gordon Lightfoot and Gene Clark with a dash of the Go Betweens’ pop accents. He doesn’t shout. He doesn’t repeat himself excessively. He lays out his storyline and allows the imagery to paint its picture. “Back to This Side” shadows a new bride who carries a weight of sadness. “So Long Great City” harbors an angst and resentment towards his Los Angeles hometown. “Separation” gently approaches his concerns about the division between church and state. “Backseat Driving” immerses itself in the conflict between the joy of abdicating responsibility and an incessant need to control every situation. It makes you wonder if what lurks beneath the surface of this writer of calm, soothing melodies isn’t an angst-ridden punk dying to pour it all out.