Without Feathers (2006)

There is nothing unusual about musicians reinventing themselves. But they tend to wait until they've recorded more than one album to do so. Not The Stills, whose second CD Without Feathers is a major departure from the studied miserabilism of 2003's Logic Will Break Your Heart. Tracks such as ''In the Beginning'' and the brass-driven ''Destroyer'' find a reshuffled and looser-sounding lineup having some major (key) fun, while the instantly hummable ''It Takes Time'' is indicative of their improved songwriting. The result is the work of an effectively new band—and a much better one.