Ambiguoso unassumingly forces its way into the room with opener Only Mystery, smirkingly encouraging the listener to take hold for one of the most fantastic musical rides in indie rock today. It glides in like a hovercraft, nestling down in your backyard to the amazement of all your neighbors (and yourself, secretly). Theses parlour steppers know exactly what they’re doing here, folks.

Following Mystery is the frightfully catchy Hot Romance, revealing the New Wave / Rock / Progressive Myspace claim. This songs kicks ass. This band kicks ass. This review is pointless… buy this CD. Go see the band live if they come to your town, or a neighboring borough. If you like music… if you’re conscious of your heartbeat, allow yourself to hear this band.

[brief pause]

Anyway, sorry for the rant. Other notables include (but not limited to…) The Garden, Thieves of Memory, Blazing Light (the bedrock from which the album’s title was harvested),and A Pagan and A Cook (with a Jewish gypsy-jig exit that‘s nothing less than sababa).

All of these aforementioned songs, in addition to the rest of the unmentioned album‘s songs cohesively connect in that magical “wow-this-is-a-great-band” sort of fashion. Each songs glimpses the listener into the essence of the Parlour Steps. It’s probably my job to explain what that essence is… part Bowe, with a tinge of David Burne, maybe meeting up with Conner Oberst as Wilco’s frontmant… but I’m not going to do that. You are, while and after you’re listening.

There’s a nice bit on YOUTUBE titled “This City Records” documenting some production aspects of the album, and the Thieves of Memory video on said website, as well as the band’s Myspace page, also provides viewers with pleasing images from the creative minds of these Vancouverites.

Our Rating: 9.5
You should visit them at Myspace and their Official Web site.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 23rd, 2008 at 10:20 am and is filed under Album Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.