The Brooklyn-based band called The Boggs consists of Mr. Jason Friedman. He writes the songs and plays a multitude of instruments. The rest of the band is made up of a revolving cast of circus freaks, and in the case of Forts we’re lucky to have Julian Gross of Liars, Matt Schultz of Enon and Heather D’Angelo of Au Revoir Simone as a few of these freaks. Heather’s sparse, sexy, and slightly disconnected voice comes and goes like a specter.

But Heather is just the icing on the cake of this well-built and expressive work of moonstruck indie-pop. The production is all over the map. Sometimes it sounds like your sitting in a cave with the performance echoing around you like so many bats, other times its airy and dramatic, and still others, it’s up front and immediate.

Forts has a fragile nature, as if it’s being held together by a single taut thread, but the atmospheric guitars and keyboards, tribal rhythms, strings, horns and acoustic guitars help paint the best work of Friedman’s career. This could be the collection of songs that helps The Boggs reach the wider audience they deserve. If not, we’ll keep them all to ourselves.

Tracklisting:

1. Forts
2. Remember the Orphans
3. Little Windows
4. One Year On
5. Arm in Arm
6. Bookends
7. After the Day
8. The Passage
9. So I So You
10. Melanie in White
11. If We Want (We Can)
12. Poor Things
13. Holiday