Low Flying Owls

After witnessing a couple of mind-blowing live Low Flying Owls shows, I had no choice but to seek out any and all recordings of Sacramento’s best new band. This 3-song CD EP is a wonderful and well-balanced introduction. The sound here is surprisingly well-produced; countless bands have made the mistake of committing their live sets note-for-note to tape, which always sounds awful, flat and lifeless. The Owls opt instead to flesh out each song’s arrangement, especially the habit-forming opening track, "Postcard From New York," an upbeat slice of pop with a call-and-response lullaby chorus and more vocal overdubs than Boston. The other standout song is "Man of Glass," a five-minute swell from somnolent solipsism to crashing climax. If I were going to complain at all, I’d whine that this disc is too short; the band easily has an album’s-worth of brilliant material waiting to be recorded.