Vanishing Act is the long-awaited second album from Edward O’Connell, the Washington, D.C. songwriter whose 2010 release, Our Little Secret, emerged from out of the blue to glowing reviews from the pop cognoscenti (MOJO: 4-stars –“Brilliant! — A highly promising pop debut”) and ended up on numerous top ten “best of the year” lists.

Vanishing Act serves up 12 more O’Connell originals, including a handful of collaborations with Peter Gilstrap of D.C.’s much beloved 1980’s power pop band The Neighbors. With walls of chiming guitars, surging harmonies and indelible hooks, O’Connell’s Vanishing Act ponders the mysteries of dumb luck, lonely crowds, time’s winged chariot, homicidal spouses and the odds against tomorrow.

For Vanishing Act, O’Connell again teams with a stellar band of kindred spirits with a particular affinity for vintage popcraft. The record features O’Connell on vocals, acoustic guitars and keyboards, joined by Buddy Speir (The Blackjacks) on guitars, Jonathan Babu (The Grand Candy) on drums, and Jacob Chmara (The Grand Candy, “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band) on bass, with vocal contributions from pop maestros Parthenon Huxley (P. Hux, The Orchestra), Todd Wright (Getaway Car, The Excentrics), David Kitchen (The David Kitchen Band, The Thrillbillys), Karl Straub (The Karl Straub Combo, The Graverobbers) and Kennedy Wright (The Crimestoppers).

Rounding out the lineup on Vanishing Act are multi-instrumentalist Americana legend Fats Kaplin (Jack White, Beck and other credits too numerous to list) on pedal steel, violin and banjo, Nashville string wizard David Henry (Brother Henry),and D.C. stalwarts Chris Watling (The Grandsons) on saxes and Kevin Cordt (Last Train Home, Spottiswoode and His Enemies) on trumpet.

Vanishing Act was produced, mixed and engineered by Jared Bartlett, whose recent production credits include records by Eric Brace, Last Train Home and Luke Brindley, as well as Our Little Secret, and who also contributed guitar and percussion to Vanishing Act.

Vanishing Act is available at CDBaby.com, Amazon.com, iTunes and Kool Kat Musik.