Spring 2005 Different Days L’Altra Hefty Records After a three-year absence, L’Altra have returned with more haunting music. The band is the result of a collaborative effort between Lindsay Anderson and Joseph Costa. Their third release finds them collaborating with cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm, Nate Walcott of Rilo Kiley and Marc Hellner of pulseprogramming. Combining a love of traditional pop song structures with cryptic lyrics, emotive string arrangements and equally stirring electronics, L’Altra are known for their own special sort of melancholia. Upon listening, something may sound a bit familiar; in the past, Anderson has toured with Will Oldham and lent her vocal talents to projects by Telefon Tel Aviv and Slicker. In a show of solidarity, Joshua Eustis of Telefon Tel Aviv provides production that makes Anderson and Costa’s work shine. Each of the ten tracks on the album seem to take on a life of their own; songs like “It Follows Me Around” and “Better Than Bleeding” lend themselves to a quiet, safe sense of resignation, where “Bring On Happiness” and “Mail Bomb” look into the darker recesses of isolation and loneliness. Smart enough to let the lyrics work for them, Anderson and Costa seem to focus more on harmonizing and forming a cohesive sound. The string arrangements nod toward a strong sense of nostalgia, while the electronics and organs work together to impart a sense of emergency and longing. All in all, this album is a lot like someone you may have broken up with: beautiful and mysterious at times, but excessively dramatic at others. If you like Low, Ida and other bands like them, this comes highly recommended. - Jocelyn Brown.