*1/2 The Marshmallow Coast

SENIORS & JUNIORS

(Kindercore)

Depending upon whether you turned in your homework on time, or the teacher made you stand in a corner and wear the dunce cap, this slight-bodied debut by Music Tapes sideman Andy Gonzalez will strike you as either a charming slice of winsome escapism by the newest Elephant 6 splinter project, or something you'll want to drop a water balloon on from a very high window. Amateurish to a fault, Seniors & Juniors sounds like a hodgepodge of half-finished ideas sketched out on piano, acoustic guitar, and what sounds like flutophone (which mimics a toy choo-choo train whistle on the opener, "Off to School"). A couple of tracks manage to capture the fragile, poetic wonder of childhood ("Mashed Potato Light" and "Ancient Chinese Secret"), but simply too many of the songs sound tentative -- fearful even -- with the band akin to a Little Red Riding Hood treating the melody as if it were the Big Bad Wolf hiding near the bridge. Gonzalez's wobbly, pinched voice doesn't help -- especially when he starts things off with a few terminally twee la-la-las, setting a new standard for cuddlecore at its most cloying. In short, this sounds more like a freshman project than one made by seniors and juniors. Here's hoping the Marshmallow Coast's sophomore effort is less of a puff piece.

-- Jonathan Perry