Eric Anders and Mark O'Bitz - Of All These Things (Self-Released)

Eric Anders and Mark O’Bitz are two musicians who have been friends and writing partners ever since they met at one of the latter’s concerts in the early ’00s. Of All These Things, which was released earlier this summer, is the long overdue culmination of this partnership. Although this is their debut album as a duo, Anders and O’Bitz have been writing songs together for years, most of which have appeared on Anders’s solo albums. Consequently, their chemistry sounds effortless on this breezy collection of artisanal indie folk, and it is clearly the work of two seasoned professionals rather than green-eyed newcomers.

There’s a strong Belle & Sebastian wistfulness to songs like the tender “Below The Night” or the sweetly intimate “Hold On To Me.” The band deftly manages to avoid ever becoming twee, a term some might consider an epithet, by including surprising turns and definition with their stripped back version of Pink Floyd prog on the sprawling “Look Into The Sun.” Of All These Things is an album in which the love and care of the musicians’ craft is evident everywhere, and fortunately the pair is already hard at work on a follow up.