I honestly think most albums sound like their cover art (and if they don’t, they ought to.) But how many albums can you say sound like the exact opposite of their album covers?

Distant Plastic Trees by The Magnetic Fields is one of those few. Its cover depicts a seemingly uneventful day in some… geographically impossible landscape—but the point is that the grass is green, the sun is shining, and everything’s diggidy dandy. The actual music of Distant Plastic Trees, however, is nothing short of a frosty winter’s day as snow slowly falls and tops the piles only briefly there before. It almost all stems from vocalist Suzan Anway’s cold delivery, drenched in palpable reverb that reflects frozen breath in chilling weather. The winter witch is aided by guitar chords and keyboards that gently dot the landscape with additional snowflakes and twinkle with the sun’s reflection.

It’s not a depressing album, mind. “Bittersweet,” at best. It’s still innocent in tone… sonically, at least. The lyrics are deceptively dark at times, like a lot of indie music tended to be in the late 80s and early 90s with the twee and noise pop movements. But as for me, I could never get enough of that aesthetic.

Then there’s “100,000 Fireflies” which—as good as the rest of the album is—just isn’t fair competition. It takes the glowing, sugary sound of the other songs and multiplies it by, well, 100,000. It almost makes you wonder why The Magnetic Fields couldn’t do capture it more often. Compositionally, this is unmistakably a Magnetic Fields album, but Suzan Anway’s vocals contrast with band lead Stephin Merritt’s. She’s light and airy, while he’s weighty and rugged. Anway complements the instrumentation, while Merritt provides an ironic juxtaposition that reflects the sardonic lyrics. They’re each valuable in their own ways, but the duo lends the music a distinctive identity when compared to the artist’s later work.

However, should you embrace these differences, you’ll find Distant Plastic Trees to be quintessential Magnetic Fields material. Whether that’s for Anway’s uniquely great vocals or Merritt’s expectedly solid pop compositions—or better yet, both.