Zebra Hunt, “Two States” (Tenorio Cotobade)

Seattle quartet Zebra Hunt's exquisite jangle-rock is released by the Spanish label Tenorio Cotobade and they've toured that country and were received enthusiastically there more than once. Not bad for a group who suffered the indignity of performing before a sparse, apathetic crowd at a liquor company-sponsored slot at Capitol Hill Block Party in 2015. That show was my first live exposure to Zebra Hunt, and besides their sparkling original tunes that charmed the hell out of me, they dropped perfectly poised covers of songs by the Go-Betweens and the Clean. With those gestures, Zebra Hunt openly revealed their influences (there's also some Feelies love in the mix), but not many bands are exploring that mutedly ebullient vein of smart, button-down indie-rock—nor is it a get-rich-quick scheme in the late 2010s.

Zebra Hunt's new album, Trade Desire, bears eight songs of quiet splendor. There's a bookish insouciance to these midtempo janglers that'll give chills to anyone with a reverence for New Zealand's excellent Flying Nun label. From start to finish, Trade Desire is a chiming-melody-lover's delight and one of the finest full-lengths from a Seattle band this year.

Album highlight "Two States" (not a Pavement cover) ambles easily out of the gate and induces a familiar calm that you may have experienced from certain Clientele songs. The guitar tones and riffs vaguely remind me of the Velvet Underground's "What Goes On," but are much more languid and wistful. "Two States" transports me to a most comforting sad-happy place.

Listen to Trade Desire in its entirety here.