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It's A Wonderful Life is filled with sepia-warm songs and an idiosyncratic heart. It unravels like an afternoon spent looking through chests of old photographs and yellowed letters, kindling a fondness for things that have passed. While the copperplate writing on the cover and the faded grandeur of the artwork hint at this motif of antiquated things, the crackling warm tones and shuffling pace of It's A Wonderful Life reinforce the retrospective feel. Mark Linkous' gentle intonations on "Sea of Teeth" create a lull that could easily make time fall away. "Can you feel the wind? A Venus on your skin," he sings. With strains of cello, violin, and Wurlitzer piano (and the usual four-piece setup), Sparklehorse wrest the most affecting melody from "Little Fat Baby," mesmerizing in its sincerity and simplicity. The pace steps up for "Piano Fire," with electric and acoustic guitars whirring away to the lively harmony, and PJ Harvey's distinct backing vocals. "How do you feel?" Harvey asks. With its lucid, fragile quirks and vivid sense of yesterday, Sparklehorse's third album makes it easy to reply with a simple "Wonderful."
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