Appleseed Cast

After five distinguished albums for the Deep Elm imprint, the Appleseed Cast has signed to New York indie stalwart Tiger Style. The Lawrence quintet (keyboardist Jordan Geiger earned official membership last year) is taking critical lumps for its latest opus, Two Conversations, with some pundits deriding AC for bypassing the expressive experimentation that garnered heaps of praise for its Low Level Owlseries. True, Conversations is a relatively stripped-down affair, but the band's devotion to strong melodies and imaginative sonic twists remains fully intact: Conversations is awash in Aaron Pillar's lilting guitar work, countered by the hushed-yet-plaintive delivery of vocalist Chris Crisci. The Cast's homecoming Lawrence stop -- slated in the midst of an extensive coast-to-coast tour -- will give the area favorite ample opportunity to defend its new material in a live setting.