Like its predecessor, “The Instinct” straddles the Portishead/Björk fence, although the Richmond, Va. act’s sophomore offering rides neither one to excess. It’s injected with the trip-hop of the former and the vocals of the latter, with Maura Davis dispersing equal doses of sadness and life, weepy but still engaging. While offerings like “Hold Your Breath” and the title track bestow more uptempo garage rock charisma, tracks like “Welcome” drift into layers of dreamy synthesized melancholy and Davis’ operatic yet downtrodden voice, which is what gets one’s attention right from the start. The songs, ultimately, are what keep it.
This article appears in Sep 24-30, 2003.