As one of K Records’ bedroom-pop mainstays throughout much of the 90s, Lois Maffeo earned herself quite the reputation in the Pacific Northwest for her brand of lo-fi, low key indie pop. Some of Maffeo’s collaborators have seen far more exposure than her, though; longtime musical partner Brendan Canty is Fugazi’s drummer, and she shares both a spiritual link and a duet with the late Elliott Smith.

By the time Maffeo took a break from recording in 1996, the lo-fi movement had begun to run out of steam. The wide-ranging genre had given bands like Sebadoh and Guided By Voices some brief radio airplay, but like so many other trends, lo-fi eventually sunk bank to the depths of college radio from whence it came, and people moved on. When Maffeo resurfaced with 2000’s The Union Themes, this time putting Canty’s name on the album as well, she brought with her a more fully-formed musical sensibility.

Even more so than her last album for K, 1996’s Infinity Plus, Maffeo augmented the simple formula of girl + guitar with grander arrangements that put more emphasis on percussion and added piano to the mix. Canty’s guitar playing, which had added texture to older songs like Bet The Sky’s “Transatlantic Telephone Call,” is given more of the spotlight as well. The end result is best described as Lois Maffeo’s adult album: the songwriting’s even better, and everything from the arrangements to the production values lends a sense of maturity to the proceedings. And while the rough edges of her earlier work is occasionally missed, it’s just as easy to forget she ever recorded anything but beautiful, accomplished chamber-pop albums.