Let Us Garlands Bring

From the softest, most gentle campfire songs to the stringed wall-of-sound rock ensemble, "Let Us Garlands Bring" glides easily, without pause, across a many-layered terrain, like a film projected against a stucco wall just left of the steer-skull and under the Christmas lights; while a feud breaks out at the family reunion, the band plays on, stonefaced and unaffected in the most committed way. It's the stuff of real human drama. Frontman Dan Burton delivers his songs in his slightly affected, though nonchalant, singsong while drummer Rory Leitch (who has worked with Burton since they co-founded the band Ativin back in 1994) keeps it all grounded. Fans of seminal slow-core bands such as Codeine and Low will appreciate Early Day Miners for their tempered beauty and composure, while lovers of My Bloody Valentine and mid-period Giant Sand (not to mention the Neil Young they were nodding to) will love the gorgeous distorted landscape that guitarists Burton and Joe Brumley allow to take them over.