With female pop stars clawing their way to the top of the charts one after another, Smoosh is a silly-sounding but surprisingly serious duo that dispenses with Raven Symoné cuteness and bland Hilary Duff earnestness to fashion a catchy, if slightly repetitive, brand of indie-pop that feels as fresh as a warm summer breeze. The Seattle-based, far-from-legal siblings Chloe and Asya (their parents, quite sensibly, have asked the press to withhold their last names) fuse piano-driven melodies with winsome, preteen lyrics on their sophomore album Free to Stay. It’s an arresting collection of 12 songs teetering on the tip of tweenerdom, somehow sounding mature despite itself. The only real criticism you can level at the sisters is that about halfway through the album, everything begins to sound the same, a mush of Smoosh, if you will. But there are still enough kicky, cheerful cuts (“Find a Way,” “Rock Song,” the title track, and “Clap On”) to merit a spin by those aficionados of playful, quirky pop that sounds like it’s old enough to drive but still bums rides from the ‘rents.
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