Love Is for the Rich

A duo of singers and multi-instrumentalists Chris Keene and Jordan Mallory, both formerly of the alternative CCM act Number One Gun, the Surrogate are an entry into the post-Modest Mouse pop-minimalist wing of indie rock. Keene and Mallory leave a lot of space in the simple arrangements of these 12 songs. Even when the tuneful, almost alt country-ish "Talk of the Weather" adds a banjo and a piano to the mix, or when "Photographic Memory" rolls in on a shag rug of electric piano, fat bass, and tasty guitar licks sounding uncannily like a late-'70s single on the Asylum label, a sense of restraint and quietude reigns. In keeping with that aesthetic, the vocals tend towards whispery and wavering of pitch, and the lyrics are so devoid of specificity beyond a general sense of emo-tinged yearning that it seems inappropriate to call Love Is for the Rich a CCM release despite Keene and Mallory's background. Songs like "Death Penalty," with its immediately affecting chorus melody, and the delicate acoustic opener "Shift the Blame" would appeal not only to Starflyer 59 fans, but to the wider pool of Shins and Death Cab for Cutie followers.