Small-town roots are a blessing and a curse: “aww shucks” humility can be endearing, but it wears thin mighty quick. Hailing from Norman, Oklahoma, psych-rock trio Evangelicals and their sophomore release The Evening Descends prove the point succinctly. The liner notes are a little bit too charmingly homemade and their press kit, carefully crafted by fledgling indie imprint Dead Oceans, uses annoying metaphor after annoying metaphor to remind us how quirky the band is. If they're so fucking quirky, why not let their music speak for itself?

Good news: it does! With the buzz stripped away and the liner notes safely stowed in another room, the album proves to be a delightful followup to 2006's So Gone. Front man Josh Jones reveals a surprising diversity of vocal styles, including a wavering falsetto that perfectly complements the album's off-kilter leads and lush synth lines. Gone is the lack of continuity that made the debut LP such a slog. This time around, songs bleed elegantly from one to the next and spliced-in samples of dialogue are subtle enough that they don't interrupt the album's flow.

The Evening Descends is best appreciated as a continuous work, but there are definitely a few stand-out tracks. “Skeleton Man” is a dreamy, energetic romp that could easily be mistaken for single material. “How Do You Sleep?” is solid throughout and makes good use of a prominent “splat” sound effect halfway through (it's represented as a drawn-in blob in those oh-so-awful liner notes, but we'll forgive them for that). On “Bellawood,” which tells the tale of an insane asylum (aren't those always in small towns?), Jones channels The Wall-era Roger Waters in a hauntingly effective manner. With any luck, these songs will be successful enough that Evangelicals' next offering won't feel so forced.