What the CL Music Team is listening to on this fine Monday to rocket launch the work week. Click here to check out previous entries.

Ray – Vacationer, Gone (out March 20 via Downtown/Universal)
Retaining a fanbase after switching bands isn't easy, but Kenny Vasoli (who first gained notoriety as singer-bassist of pop-punk outfit The Starting Line) hasn't given his followers many reasons to jump ship in his post-TSL career. Vasoli's Person L side project blossomed from a solo bedroom endeavor into a full-fledged touring rock band (their 2009 LP — The Positives — was recorded in Lakeland, Fla. and was easily one of the best releases of that year), and his latest undertaking finds the 27-year-old recording with a few friends under the Vactioner moniker.

They were picked up by Universal/Downtown and released the Gone EP in late January. In a few weeks the LP (also titled Gone) also hits shelves, and if I had my way, Vasoli would be on "vacation" for a while. The syncopated piano chords and soulful guitar fills of "Everyone Knows" open the 10-track effort, and the whole of the album is set in full motion by active production that induces head bobbing while staying mellow enough to just veg out to. Vasoli's gift for melody shines on the title track, where he sweetly declares "peace of mind/heaven knows you give me mine" over quiet hand claps and plucked clavichords, and everything comes to a flourishing head on the airy-arrangement closer "Farther."

It's one of the most transportive records I've heard in a while and one that continually reveals itself little by little (the bells, woodwinds, and glitchy backbeat of "Trip" are one of many subtle highlights). The best part is that it comes to State Theatre when Vacationer opens for The Naked & Famous on March 28. Check out the video for "Gone" along with the rest of this week's entries after the jump…

This article appears in Mar 1-7, 2012.

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