by Stewart MasonA far superior follow-up to their pleasant but bland debut From Here To There, Plan Your Escape finds the Belgian pop sextet Girls In Hawaii developing more of a musical personality. Musically, Plan Your Escape leans slightly more to Christophe Leonard's keyboards than the debut had, adding a layer of complexity to winsome indie-pop tunes like"Shades of Time." (The addition of a jaw harp to the song's coda is a appealingly quirky touch as well.) Singers Antoine Wielemans and Lionel Vancauwenberghe seem a bit more comfortable about singing in their natural Belgian accents than before as well, which adds another layer of charm to songs like the banjo and accordion-led waltz"Couples On TV." The album's sequencing flows beautifully, moving easily from a peppy rocker like the organ-driven, fuzz-toned"Grasshopper" to the mellow neo-psych gem"Colors" to the whispery indie-rock drones of"Birthday Call." But the fundamental change on Plan Your Escape is simply that the songwriting is better, with more memorable tunes, tighter and more adventurous arrangements and a greater sense of dynamics. Plan Your Escape is enough of a step beyond From Here To There that it's almost tempting to think of it as Girls In Hawaii's proper debut album.