Beacons is the sophmore album from Toronto’s Ohbijou, following on from 2006 debut Swift Feet For Troubling Times. Many UK listeners (or at least TLOBF readers) may recognise the delicate vocals of front woman Casey Macija from her appearance on Bella Union labelmates The Acorn’s Glory Hope Mountain. Although originally a solo outlet for Macija’s work, she later went on to recruit younger sister Jennifer on violin and backing vocals, and a host of others to form an orchestral-folk pop band of the highest order, if Beacons is anything to go by.There is a particular clarity and pureness to Macija senior’s voice, a welcome change in these times that are so often full of gruff voiced bravado. It is only fitting then that it is her voice that takes the centre stage within the band. Throughout the album guitars and xylophones and pianos twinkle around her wistful lyrics that tell tales of lives lived and loves lost in the rush of the Big City, of lives lived under the ground. There is often a hushed, conspiratorial nature to the lyrics as if Casey is telling her innermost secrets to the listener. Delicately arranged string parts rise and fall, never over crowding the arrangements or feeling like an afterthought, whilst banjo’s pluck and gentle horns rise out from the background. With much of the record sounding like a lullaby, it is easy to get enveloped in Ohbijou’s warm sound- at times it feels like you are being wrapped in a warm blanket, protected from the harshness of the outside world and the big city lights.That is not to say that Beacons is a one trick pony, however. 'New Years' drives forward on a modulating bass line before Jenny’s familial harmonies come in and pizzicato strings join in, Casey letting her voice soar as the track builds to a crescendo. Ohbijou repeat this trick on 'Make It Gold', but with added horns. Lyrically Macija frequently sets up the juxtaposition between city and country; 'Black Ice' telling tales of sitting down in the city next to a pile of “cigarettes and glue”, while on 'Make it Gold' she flees the city and waits in the woods for the subject of the song. There is also a sense of being overwhelmed by the pace of the city, frequently preferring the still of the nights street to the hustle and bustle, most explicitly on 'Memoriam', in which Macija envisions the city as a place where there is “No time to stop/ Life's so busy” as the chugging string section builds and builds as she sings of the city burning to the ground.In Beacons Ohbijou have created a record that is both sad and uplifting, a heartfelt treatise on modern city life, whatever part of the world you live, or love in. A delicate balance of darkness and light, they could be summing up the record themselves on 'Eloise and The Bones' when the Mecija sisters join together to sing “Something sinister/ something good”. It looks like Bella Union have come up trumps yet again. 84%Ohbijou on Myspace