The Lovely Sparrows - Pulling Up Floors, Pouring on (New) Paint

Sonically speaking, The Lovely Sparrows (no relation to Sparrow or The Lovely Feathers) share more with Canada's latest crop of hyped indie bands than the band's homeland of Austin. The city's just incessantly gravid with talent; just in 2006, the Texan capital has boasted Oh No! Oh My! (they recently relocated back to the city from previous base Nashville), I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness, Golden Bear and Voxtrot, and that's just the tip of the iceberg. Radiating autumnal, affable emotions with folk-leanings and subdued melodies, Shawn Jones and his rotating cast of musicians have created something worthy of the highest praises, in a folk/pop scene that’s rapidly becoming bloated and stale. With only one 7" out there prior to this Pulling Up Floors, Pouring on (New) Paint, the band is already leading the charge to make birds the requisite indie-animal when the bears initiate a seasonal hibernation. The comparisons seem to roll in somewhere every time the press covers The Lovely Sparrows; vocally, yes, there's an essence of Wolf Parade in there that’s all too obvious, though it's not a crime, and likely not one committed purposely. And besides, fuck it, it sounds good. Buoyant in all aspects, the five-track EP eloquently skitters around all the fingerpicking, bells, handclaps and sing-alongs that have become entirely common, but when these guys do it, everything just sounds so much clearer and better. Jones' lyrics are probably the most outstanding facet of all, sometimes oddly Malkmusian but compelling nonetheless. The sough of cymbals and weeping acoustic guitar are washed to the forefront of opener "Chemicals Change", Jones ensuring his audience that "this is not the song you begged [him] to write," and then splashing in the dewdrop breakdown. Pouring on Paint may disappoint those to whom it comes off as one long track, but it could be argued that it's simply one piece with five separate, enchanting movements. If Dan Bejar and Carl Newman teamed up with Architecture in Helsinki, they just might be able to pull this off. [www.abandonedloverecords.com]