A little over a month ago, we put our house on the market. One of the immediate recommendations of our Realtor was to get rid of all the clutter — an attempt to make our modest home seem more capacious. By “clutter,” she specifically meant the thousands of cds and hundreds of records that littered the dining and living rooms. So, for what seems like an eternity now, our immense music collection has languished in a dank self-storage unit a few miles down the road. I was, however, able to randomly stash some albums in the car, in the closet and in the pantry. And surely, the 20 gigabytes of music on my hard drive can’t be perceived as clutter.

I downloaded Little Pop Rock some time ago, but I never got around to listening to it, until today. Suddenly, I really miss my Mobile Safari record. I now feel I never fully appreciated Psychocandy. Don’t get me wrong. I absolutely love the innocence and fragility of this album. While Sister Vanilla is certainly no JAMC or Pastels — although, two-thirds of this group are JAMC alums, and there is a duet with Stephen Pastel — this album is indeed a pleasant substitute for the duration our house sits on the market. And, it is the perfect soundtrack for the torrid August nights that lie ahead.