EP

Chicago’s Mittens on Strings follow last year’s Let’s Go to Baba’s with a quirky self-produced fiver. Like Baba’s, their arrangements are intricate and textured without seeming complex. There’s an inherent fun to these five songs, and each one seems to breathe with the air of nostalgia. Sometimes that quality overtakes their originality, like the guys are regurgitating every record they’ve ever heard. “Lawnmower Man III” is the highlight, sounding like a speed-fueled Doors session circa 1970. “Jeans Day” might be a Lou Reed composition (they have a song called “Lou Reed Says” on Baba’s), were he writing with irony.