On the contrary, the Portland-based octet’s (yes, as in eight members) first full-length gets plenty of things exactly right. Their gentle, spare style brings to mind some long-forgotten late ‘60s folk music collective mixed up with the exquisitely arranged strings and woodwinds of newer acts like Sufjan Stevens and Vetiver. For an era-spanning sound, it’s a refreshingly low-key affair. Jeremy Faulkner’s whispery vocals and slightly warped lyrics call to mind Devendra Banhart’s brand of West Coast folk minus the aggressive weirdness, while the lilting male-female harmonies call to mind hippie staples like The Mamas and The Papas and early Fairport Convention.

Reservoir opens with the purr of “Young Veins,” drifting along on softly strummed strings and Becky Dawson’s smoothly alluring lead vocal before reaching a reserved but energetic swell of orchestration around the three-quarter mark. The next track, “All Unfolding,” finds Dawson leading a truly striking background vocal arrangement as Faulkner murmurs floral metaphors and sly alliteration (“All unfolding / Sure, it will shrivel / Shaft, its petals”). The ambitious “Army of Light/Honeymoon” rides a waltz-like beat through a strange soundscape of violins and woodwinds, and then fades into the hypnotic “Stranger Maker,” a fine showcase for Ah Holly Fam’ly’s flair for spooky/pretty imagery: “Better off on the forest floor / than the thunder above the thorns”.

The Sufjan influence comes to the fore on “Lucky Peak,” a song whose trilling reeds and mellow harmonies could almost pass for a forgotten track from the Illinois sessions. But the album’s real focal point emerges with “Loneliest City,” a mesmerizing number with an upbeat arrangement and harmonizing that belies songwriting ranging from melancholy (“What’s the loneliest city in the world? / Spin a globe around / Put your finger down and it’s there”) to outright odd (“We brought these beasts across the seas / While celebrating sex with mermaids / We would marry fish if we could”). While it’s not an album for everybody – Faulkner’s unorthodox vocals in particular seem likely to turn off certain segments – Reservoir is one of the more accomplished entries in the recent alt-folk canon, a dreamy, self-assured font of creative energy. Cultish connotations aside, this is one fully functional Fam’ly.

Recommended Tracks: “Loneliest City,” “All Unfolding,” “Stranger Maker”

-Ira Brooker