The British band Jacanda appears to specialize in pretentious folk-rock. The songs are about the emptiness of life, the failure of love, from horrible things that happen to the Amish to a fantasy about a psychotic episode. They sort of scream their importance.

The metaphors are overblown. "When You're Gone" speaks of all the terrible things that occur when the singer's loved one is gone, such as clouds in the sky are changed and people do strnge things. But when she is here, the world is dressed in brand new colors.

In all, listening to Skimming Stones makes you feel as if you've been trapped in a room full of terribly clever college sophomores with no way to get out. I see it appealing to a very young and very serious audience that has never experienced true feelings but has read about them a lot.