Albatross [CD]

The Standard -- the band All Music Guide calls, "heartbreakingly gorgeous... startlingly unique" -- return with another album that demands the upper reaches of your stereo's register. On "Albatross", their fourth full-length (and second for Yep Roc), this Portland quartet continues to climb out of obscurity on the backs of hometown reverence, coveted tours (Wire, The Shins, Clinic, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Steve Malkmus and the Jicks, etc.) and a continuous stream of critical praise. Tim Putnam's nervous, bruised vocals carry the band down a frenetic path full of percussive guitar lines and rising keyboard textures, leading Filter Magazine to proclaim, The Standard are "an ensemble with more prowess than bands twice their age but with an imagination that reaches higher to the heavens with each passing song... If this band does not start selling more records, I will slit my wrists." Standard Jewel Case.

• Format: CD
• Genre: Rock