Despite the relative failure of the quiet ballads on their debut, it was obvious Linton and company had aimed high; you could almost tell it was just unfortunate circumstances and a reach exceeding their grasp that turned “Alicia’s Song” into the somewhat indistinguishable haze it turned out to be. But as the years went on, Linton got better both at the songwriting and at the producing, to the point where their very next album, 2000’s The Last Match, was hailed by some as the logical indie pop successor to the Wall of Sound ethos, with Linton playing the role of Phil Spector.

By the time How I Learned To Write Backwards arrived, it was clear the band had figured out how the subtler dynamics and hushed tones should work. “Emotional Levy,” while bearing a superficial resemblance to the quiet songs of old, is a far superior product. The spare instrumentation does far more than the pretty but insubstantial guitars of previous efforts could ever do to suggest the sort of 60s pop aesthetic the Aislers Set have been mining for much of their career, while still retaining the unique character that makes it so easy to tell an Aislers Set song from most of the other bands more overtly taking from the girl-group tradition. “Emotional Levy” sounds haunting—an amazing feat in this day and age.