Dimples

Any decent shortlist of 2011's best albums would include more than a few produced by omnipresent Texan John Congleton: the Lubbock-born, Austin-based producer's credits include St. Vincent, Bill Callahan, The Mountain Goats, The War On Drugs, Explosions In The Sky, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Wye Oak and more. Improbably, Congleton has also managed a new musical project of his own with the four-song debut EP by The Nighty Nite. Not that far removed from his old band The Paper Chase (the lineup even includes some of his former bandmates) but with a more direct and focused feel, the admirably concise Dimples is rooted in the noisier side of indie rock, with sludgy tempos, discordant noises and howling guitar feedback predominant. Interestingly, however, Congleton juxtaposes this ugliness with a sensitive-but-not-emo lyrical sensibility that's closer in spirit to Neutral Milk Hotel's Jeff Mangum: the key refrain of "This Silly Bag," "Do you think about my body? / 'Cause I don't think about your soul" would have fit comfortably on In The Aeroplane Over The Sea. The closing cover of The Magnetic Fields' "Meaningless," transforming Stephin Merritt's arch original into a howl of distortion-spattered angst, is an impressive touch as well. Hopefully Congleton isn't too busy for a full-length follow-up.