Mahayla probably won't make you think of New Orleans; there’s not a moment on Electricspaceagesweetheart you could imagine hearing on Treme. This album's roots aren’t in that era of Americana but rather in the college rock era of the mid-'90s, when the Chapel Hill scene was drawing attention with sounds that sometimes felt borrowed from the British folk rock scene of the ‘60s. Mahayla’s frontman, Dave Fera, had been part of the Richmond, Va., indie scene at the time when major labels threw money at almost anyone holding a guitar. His band The Seymores had the hit “Arcade Boy” before disappearing, along with the entire era. In 1999, Fera formed Mahayla with drummer Mark Davis and recorded an EP and album before wandering off with Big Blue Marble. A serious depression post-Katrina was finally broken through with the help of his old Mahayla bandmates, and an impressive songwriting wave led to this album. Witness the gorgeous melodicism of "Wilderness,” “Silence Equals Power," and “If I Could Have Her Tonight," plus the spunky indie pop of “Kristy McNichol” and “Good Old Days.”