Delayed album doesn't disappoint

His stage name may bring to mind some old-fashioned slinger of grizzled blues, but Langhorne Slim's songs actually tend toward exuberant folk-pop.

The Bucks County native and current Brooklynite - born Sean Scolnick - doesn't understand why his records are sometimes described as backwoods oddities.

"[I'm] often surprised at how my music is described," Slim says. "Some of it seems ridiculous to me, but you have no control over it. I really don't put a tag on the music we do."

'We' means Langhorne Slim and the War Eagles, which includes the bouncy two-piece backing band (Paul Defiglia on upright bass and Malachi DeLorenzo on drums) he's employed since his proper debut album, 2004's Electric Love Letter. Not long after it was released, Slim and the band signed to the Virgin imprint V2, only to have the label close down before they could release a follow-up album.

That second, self-titled album finally saw the light of day in April, thanks to the New York indie label Kemado. It already has earned Slim considerable buzz for his sturdy, infectious songs and boisterous delivery. The lyrics are wryly funny - "We ain't goin' to hell/We're going to the rebel side of heaven" - and Slim emerges as a ramshackle troubadour who approaches some songs like a sprinter (the jittery "She's Gone") and others at a crawl (the country-tinged ballad "Colette").

Asked if he made the new album self-titled as a sort of introduction to the world at large, he responded: "That's probably the best answer. I thought it might be the first heavy push to get our music out there. It seemed appropriate."