Mind Your Own is the latest recording from the fantastic upper-voiced group Note-Oriety from James Madison University. It is an enjoyable romp through the pop-tacular landscape of the current collegiate biosphere.

From the supplemental website the members mention that the album is supposed to be about empowerment and independence. And yet, again just like with XX and Note to Self, there is not a lot of oomph in some of the music to back up this weighty theme. That's not to say that all music needs to have this gritty power ballad face-melting aspect to it to make the song empowering, but there is a subtle disjunct between the two that would be better expressed when the content matches the concept just a little more. Even just one Beyonce/Christina/Kelly Clarkson (has she reached single-name status yet?) Stronger, Fighter, Run the World track included would have driven the point home. Or with the folky tinge on a few of the tracks, I'm Not Ready to Make Nice would have fit in nicely. Anyway, that's me thinking as a marketer and producer, so I digress. I Fall Apart comes the closest, and Beggin' with all of its glorious cheesiness seems to be the track most central to the theme. It's danceable; let's go?

As usual, the Notes are fantastic musicians from the top down: the blend is impeccable, with each vocal part having a distinctive sound to it focusing on a centralized vocal timbre that is super impressive. I went and checked a few live videos from the past few years to see if it was the talent or recording technique; suffice it to say this talent is mostly theirs. I'm sure the ever-methodical James Gammon added his recording shine to the overall blend and balance, but that core skill and perfection is all theirs.

I don't know how many times or ways that I can exclaim how much an upper-voiced trio does me in almost every time. So suffice it to say that the cover of Trousdale's Wouldn't Come Back is just short of sublime. It doesn't reach the pinnacle because I'm not listening to them performing it live and having a complete out-of-body experience. Talk about having nearly perfect blend and sounding one-voiced. Even on the harmonies, they've melded their voices so well that it comes across as a single person overdubbing and layering. Perfection.

I ended my review of XX with the following missive:

So, if your tastes are running along the subtle and tender trail at the moment, you will definitely enjoy the effort put out by Note-Oriety. It's gentle and pretty. The next album has to be more raucous to show the depth of the group's skill that I know they possess. Swing wide girls, swing wide.

Mind Your Own isn't as gentle as XX, nor is it a "3" wrapped up in "4"'s clothing like Note to Self — so in that sense it is definitely a step in the right direction. Because I'm caught up in the Cinderella story of Birmingham-Southern's run up to the collegiate baseball world series, the most major upset in sports history by the U.S. cricket team, and the drama known as Roland-Garros, I'm going to stick with the batting imagery by saying: give us just a little more grit, grind, and gravitas and your next release will completely knock it out of the park.

Three years ago, I reviewed Note-Oriety's release Note to Self and challenged the group with this: "Give us a whole record that stands out."

Challenge complete, and beautifully so.

The strength displayed in Oh My God is significant: an absolutely lush soundscape, packed with ear-catching details that serve as the hallmark for Mind Your Own. With its great rhythmic sway and playful descant woven into the arrangement, I had to repeat Oh My God the moment the song first ended. A truly perfect duet between the group and James Gammon.

I Fall Apart features the on-fire soprano section: so technically precise, so focused on clear ornamentation. The piece also highlights more thoughtful movement in the arrangement; these songs drive forward through texture and phrasing. I'm never bored listening to Mind Your Own because there's so much cleverness to admire.

A lot of this admiration stems from great source material. Sometimes we hear groups that deliver a lopsided product, but Note-Oriety is a group rich in musicianship and glistening with energy, allowing itself a wide catalog of hits that sound convincing. The devastating lyrics of Wouldn't Come Back are performed by leads who carefully give us a restrained, haunting take that adds enduring depth to this smart pick. The End of Love offers a similar route to success: a complex composition, beautifully performed. Even the playful source material 80s Mercedes still has substance in spades from the group bringing each part to life.

Note-Oriety ends Mind Your Own with a gospel-style empowerment song, Don't Lose Sight, where the singers tell us, "This shit's gonna kill me, but I won't let it." Strong deliveries, imaginative arrangements, and pristine sound work makes Mind Your Own an easy release to love, and an album that will stand out for some time.

JMU's Note-Oriety has taken a huge step forward with Mind Your Own. As we've come to expect from this group, the repertoire is powerful pop songs with strong leads. But the group sounds focused, intense, and confident on Mind Your Own in ways that we haven't heard from Note-Oriety in a few years.

Oh My God kicks off the album with a bang, with Abbie Petros's solid lead dancing over Annie Urmanski's terrific arrangement. And while I Fall Apart is also quite good, the album really launches on Beggin': Maggie Rabe's arrangement is great, but more than that, this song was made for Jane Gerrard's lead. She starts the song clear as a bell then bounces between sultry and pushy, sometimes spitting out lyrics so quickly you'll wonder whether her tongue is literally getting twisted beneath her rapid-fire sass.

From there, Mind Your Own really gets good. Wouldn't Come Back is just harmony over harmony over harmony; the trio hits chords with such a lovely resonance. My audio player definitely got stuck on this song for a while (or maybe that was just me, pushing it back to the start as soon as it finished). The End of Love is a lovely ballad with an airy arrangement, and 80s Mercedes is just an all-around fun performance.

There are a few songs that aren't quite up to the bar of the best tracks here, but the only true misstep is the album-closing Don't Lose Sight, which gets a little shrill and shouty at times. But, a misstep as the last track is pretty easy to overlook, and the rest of Mind Your Own is a thoroughly enjoyable treble-register album.