INFINITE ELLIPSE AND HEAD WITH OPEN FONTANEL

You've been unsure about this album since you listened to the free EP that the band released in early 2011 (New I Fealing). Over the course of a full length album, can the band really top what they accomplished on that three track album? Isn't it riskier to pay money for an unsure thing, when the sure, good thing was free?

(Hey, you in the corner - yeah, you the guy looking confused. Are you telling me you haven't heard New I Fealing yet? Let me help ya out - go download that and give it a spin. If you like it even a little bit, direct your credit card to the nearest online retailer carrying this album.)

Infinite Ellipse and Head With Open Fontanel, despite having a name you will likely never remember, is an utterly superb piece of avant garde music, full of wonderful melodies, odd sounds, freakouts, weird lyrics, and songs with names like "Sneffels Yokul" and "Look, I'm Almost Dead". The cover art is laid out like all those Pendragon album covers - with all the little details and sub-stories going on - except it's a photograph instead of a painting, so they had to actually make all the weird stuff, not just imagine it. Yep, this is a weird band, thank goodness!

They can be strikingly sparse and emotional at times - Woodsong (parts 1 and 2) is a superb example of this, being carried pretty much completely by the quiet piano and the mournful horns. And they can also rock out and pound your ears with glorious, glorious sound and melody, as they demonstrate in pretty much every song. They've mastered the art of introducing a new melody or idea with a bang. Contrast is the name of the game here, and a quiet section may be interrupted by the introduction of an energetic theme on the trombone.

Seven vocalists, a marimba, trombone, cello, saxophone, flute, and the only traditional rock instrument in sight is a doublebass. And yet these guys rock pretty hard from time to time, and their music has an undeniable energy about it.

For sure, one of the better albums I have discovered in the past months. Oh, and I'm going to say this - this is better than New I Fealing. It's complex, it's fun, it's bizarre. And it's not a matter of quantity over quality - the highest moments here easily surpass the highest moments of New I Fealing. (And that's something that I never would have thought would be easy!)