Listeners of music from local New York City area musicians may very well have heard the name Lane Steinberg before. Lane was a member of the band Tan Sleeve as well as the force behind Cracked Latin. An unexpected treat by the Queens, NYC native, the 12-track CD release of Headspace reestablished Lane’s propensity for revisiting minor pop-rock masterpieces in the spirit of McCartney, Emitt Rhodes and early Todd Rundgren.

Sure the influences are always lurking in the background but the songs hold up and, performed entirely by Lane, they offer a homey kind of pop ambience, one minute Todd influenced and then in another, Brian Wilson smiles down on Lane. A low-fi pop masterpiece, Headspace is a most welcome return from NYC’s underrated pop-composer, singer and guitarist / multi-instrumentalist Lane Steinberg.