Peasant "Shady Retreat" (2010)

Some forms of indie rock can be quite slippery when you try to get a handle on it.  Its quiet, strummy instrumentation means the music itself isn't something that you mind holds onto easily.  What's left then is the songs themselves.  How's the melody?  Do you want to sing along?  The best material quietly insinuates itself into your head.  The merely competent fades away.  The phenomenon seems to be that 10 minutes after the album ends, I've forgotten what I've listened to.

Peasant "On The Ground" (2009)

At first listen, this feels like a game of spot the influence.  Oh, here's the Simon & Garfunkle part!  Here's the Byrds!  Here's Elliott Smith!  But once the songs are taken on their own merit, it's obvious that this modest record contains some real gems of folk pop.