Pop song craft in its highest form, tormented themes, unexpected twists, and sweeping instrumentalism. Throughout the course of the band’s 2005 debut, these elements alternate from front and center to supporting ones, and at their most sublime, they all find a way to simultaneously share the spotlight. The effect of this deeply personal recording is the cohesion that borders on a territory normally reserved for concept albums.
The characters in these songs, as well as the spirit of the narrator, drift from the speakers into an ethereal mist surrounding you. The dovetailing of stories here is remarkable, transforming its pop brilliance into autobiographical insight. Point of view storytelling at its most bittersweet.