Brooklyn's Leah Siegel has teamed up with an experienced band of fellow travelers who, like herself, have been seeking the right musical project. The group is like a throwback to the '60s and early '70s, when albums were sculpted more toward what an artist had to say than assuming that serious projects required long albums. At seven songs in less than a half-hour, Pills from Strangers is just the right length. There are no wasted notes, no filler tracks. Just the best ideas brought to fruition by classical violinist/commercial songwriter Siegel, guitarist Steve Elliot (Shooter Jennings), bassist Tim Luntzel (Rosanne Cash, Loudon Wainwright III), keyboardist/programmer Mendeley Wells, and drummer Brian Wolfe (Sufjan Stevens, David Byrne/St. Vincent). "Good," with its dense keyboard lines and aggressive groove, rocks like modernized new wave pop. "Wave" rambles in its verses only to streamline its chorus to the super-catchy "I'm in love, I'm in love, I'm in love." "Scarecrow" sounds like PJ Harvey singing over random Tricky tracks that've been stripped for parts; it befits a record produced by Geoff Stanfield, whose credits include Moby.