It's interesting and somewhat refreshing to hear someone avoid the common topics of depression and loneliness and instead focus on overwhelming positives, but - and maybe I just have a penchant for melancholy- over the length of a whole album, it gets old, and you keep hoping for some darkness to creep up to provide a change of pace.
'Heart That's Pounding' represents an interesting, but not unexpected twist Seltmann, who formerly released very textured and dreamlike, confessional music under the moniker New Buffalo.
Her debut under her own name is more straightforward, more generic-indie sounding- but she's still a talented songwriter and imbues every track with a clever hook, a catchy chorus, or an interesting little moment that keeps the album moving along. I was wholly un-surprised to discover she'd co-written '1234' after hearing this- that song could exist on 'Heart That's Pounding' as easily as it does on 'The Reminder.'
Ultimately though, this will prove to be a pretty divisive release. Just as some will find her fresh-faced lyrics and delivery empowering, others will see it as naive and annoying- and it's hard not to take issue with the sheer number of times the phrase 'hold me tightly' crops up on track after track. You could design a very effective drinking game based solely around that idea and a shuffle button.
