My Electric Family

iTunes Review

This debut by New Zealand’s Annabel Alpers starts off with an eerily quiet tune that steadily picks up pace, layering in an easy snare, slightly countrified guitar, strings and what sounds like flute, or perhaps a Mellotron, just as a chorus of vocal tracks begin taking off overhead, like jets on a runway. “Instructions for Insomniacs” is a beautiful surprise, and lays the groundwork for My Electric Family, named for the artist’s affection for computers (and “machines”). Guitars — reverbed, fingerpicked or effects-laden — and gliding, multi-tracked vocals are set against the sounds of pulsing, gurgling, keyboards. Like a nerdy cousin to Bat for Lashes, Bachelorette works with ambient textures and occasional bursts of sheer pop joy (try “Mindwarp” on for a taste), but she tempers the pop sheen with no small amount of electronic acoutrement (“Long Time Gone,” “Dream Sequence”). “Her Rotating Head” soars on a cool disco rhythm, while the blinking “Technology Boy” recalls the groundbreaking work of Laurie Anderson. Alpers’ occasional nods to ’60 girl-group pop isn’t so surprising, considering that her take on the future of music is firmly rooted in the past.