On one of the more upbeat numbers from To Find Me Gone, "Idle Ties," Andy Cabic sings, "Put on the tape that you made for me / It's got Marc Bolan and Vashti." No doubt two of Mr. Cabic's biggest influences... at least on his self-titled debut.

To Find Me Gone finds Cabic wriggling out from under the thumb of Devendra Banhart and exploring the distinctly American, laid back feel of early 70's singer/songwriter material along with the late 60's British folk territory he's already covered. Other than being great friends and cohorts (and closing the album in duet), comparisons are pretty irrelevant at this point. Cabic blazes his own trail here, and we're all better off for it.

Cabic feels more grown-up and comfortable on To Find Me Gone—purging wonderfully obscure influences from his vast record collection onto tape. From the Eastern drones of the opening track, "Been So Long," to the country-rock shuffle of "Won't Be Me," Vetiver proves his pop music history knowledge deep, not to mention incredibly tasteful. There are no blatant "This is so psychedelic!" or "How freakin' catchy is this?!" musical shouts. Every turn feels perfectly organic in its calculated space.

There are so many highlights on this album that it makes it hard to single-out anything in particular. That said, "Double" definitely feels like the album's centerpiece. An ambient blanket wraps Cabic's tender vocal before being washed away by soaring strings, all in a song so simply beautiful it's hard to imagine writing.

I honestly can't say enough about this record... Yes, you've seen my rating, and it was hard not to have gone that next star. It feels so classic and either so far ahead of what's going on or so far behind that it couldn't have happened at a better time.

Note: Stream the entire album here while it lasts...