My Stadium Electric

Fans of Erin McCarley’s gorgeous 2008 debut Love, Save the Empty have been waiting nearly four years for her sophomore album. My Stadium Electric rewards their patience right from the opening single “Elevator.” It starts with exotic tones that fall somewhere between Bollywood soundtracks and Indonesian music before grooving on woody rhythms that move like kinetic layers of field-recorded percussion. But it’s the textured timbre of McCarley’s arresting voice that pulls the listener in. The production in the following “You’re Not That Someone” is just as winsome as the song itself. A reverberated guitar-string trill recalls Portishead’s 1994 hit “Sour Times.” But what’s more impressive is McCarley’s airtight hip-hop phrasing in the verses. She builds up a palpable tension in “Vertigo” while admitting that she doesn’t want to let go of her fears. “Survey” is similarly haunting — as is the beginning of “Amber Waves” with its antique music-box intro — but the latter takes off with pedaling rhythms and soaring melodies. The uplifting “Just Another Day” struts on boomy drums and handclap rhythms.