An Exaltation of Laarks

Certain environs are more suited to the discharge of electricity, but Laarks have found conductors in a wide range of places - spanning state and even continental divides - while basing out of pastoral indie-rock hotbed Eau Claire, WI. Their debut album is a record full of melodic hooks and embedded in indie rock mini-epics, with raucous crescendos and climaxes of textures pinned between pauses and composed reflection. The band pushes and prods singer Ian Jacob's astute-yet-innocent pop songs into dynamic, overblown declarations of grandeur with layered keyboards, organs and guitars swirling around pulsing, driving bass and frantic, fiery drums. It's the sound of a band markedly assured for a debut, delightfully void of irony, with a maelstrom of reference points resulting in some of the most vigorous, fervent electrifying pop music on any side of the Chippewa River. Charged air releases unwitting sparks: brace yourselves for An Exaltation of Laarks.