by Nitsuh AbebePostcards From the Arctic has all the marks of the dream pop influence that made its way into American indie in the early '90s. Springhouse soften their guitars and try to compose floating pop melodies, and the results, while occasionally bearing a sappy pop slickness, are typically appealing. The album's more straightforward rock tendencies mean that it has more in common with the spacier end of late-'80s Brit-pop than it does with shoegazing and dream pop, and this tends to be a good thing. 1991's Eskimo EP focuses on this common ground, and, at times, sounds slightly better than Postcards....