Keeping in mind that Josephine Network already released a yearlist-worthy LP this year, Hooked, which came out last March on Lolipop Records, I did not anticipate a second album to be released, let alone to have it arrive with so little fanfare. It basically landed on our digital doorstep yesterday, a sole Bandcamp notification as its messenger.

The fact that it came with hardly any information adds to the mystery. It basically is Josephine together with Olive Faber, who also handled the recording and mixing. So right now, I don’t have any backstory on the release, but I can tell you that it is classic Josephine Network while simultaneously being a mirror image of the Hooked LP.

Hooked was loud, catchy and fun by design, a revved-up departure from the niche Josephine Network usually operates in, which is some combination of glam pop, soft rock, psych, country and soul that is much easier to listen to than to describe.

Little Spells fits more comfortably into that sound. It takes a gentler, less hard-rocking approach, but the common thread is that Josephine is writing some of the poppiest stuff of her career. These ten new songs are easily revved up, too. Openers Gotta Get Outta My Heart and Bumpin’ Into You would slide particularly well onto a stage alongside the Hooked material, while on songs like Put A Guitar In Her Hands and I Could Say No, The Lemon Twigs’ influence is palpable.

By the end, I’m amazed by how well Josephine Network pulls off both sides of the equation. Loud and revved-up or gentle and poppy, apparently she can do both just as well.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp