or better or worse, we here at Stylus, in all of our autocratic consumer-crit greed, are slaves to timeliness. A record over six months old is often discarded, deemed too old for publication, a relic in the internet age. That's why each week at Stylus, one writer takes a look at an album with the benefit of time. Whether it has been unjustly ignored, unfairly lauded, or misunderstood in some fundamental way, we aim with On Second Thought to provide a fresh look at albums that need it.

The last thing anybody would expect from three New Jersey trailer park residents would be that they would be making a living creating calypso music. Neno Perrotta (coffee can bongos, clarinet, singing), Dan Leone (ukulele, singing) and Carrie Bradley (violin, guitar, singing) make up this unlikely band, though, and their second proper album, It’s All Good News is the strongest compilation of their material available.

Opening instrumental “She Ate the Fly” begins misleadingly. An acoustic guitar plunks out a minor key melody. One gets the mental picture of a dusty cowboy walking through a ghost town. This lasts for about twenty seconds. A clarinet begins a happy melody, the guitar is replaced by the plunky ukulele and things remain in this upbeat fashion for the remainder of the song.

“King of Calypso” finds Dan Leone lamenting his inability to become the king of calypso. “I’d like to be from Trinidad” he begins “you’re not, you’re not” Carrie Bradley answers. The song continues in this humorous manner, “there is no cure for my condition (no cure, no cure), I wish I was, instead of just wishin’” The classic moment comes during Bradley’s violin solo, where Leone, in a Belafonte-esque manner intones “around the corner”.

“Fortune Teller” seems like the album’s obvious single. An addictive electric ukulele melody coupled with a strange narrative by Carrie Bradley about a fortune teller presumably being overwhelmed by her surroundings. Bradley “dedicated to her dream of silence/ she talks to her appliances she tells them to be quiet/ she can’t find her cards and she can’t read her instant coffee/ why does it have to be this way?” The ending is particularly memorable, with the final ukulele note being plucked continuously, alternating through the left and right speakers.

“Bad Coffee” features Neno Perrotta sputtering grand lovesick lyrics. ”Put on your dress, jump in the water, float on your back or sink like a stone, blow me a bubble, my lungs are in trouble since the first time you kissed me I can’t breathe alone” he sings almost faster than he can find the words. The upbeat ukulele, bouncy violin and bongos follow along, adding to his delirious condition. The song slows down as Neno gathers his thoughts; “you acted crazy for me, like a week long day without hours, your life is too crazy for me, I can’t see the field for the flowers.”

Though the album is humorous, it is also touching at parts. ”Lighthouse” and “Somebody Else in the Room” capture loneliness in unexpected ways. The latter features Bradley discussing a depressing moment in daily life, “My windows open, so I can smell the neighbors I can’t see, they cook with spices across the alley/ pull up a chair/ 6:15”. The album captures a wide range of emotions, made clearer by the sparse (and effective) instrumentation.