This is my first genuine surprise of the year. Previous experience of The Gullivers did not hold much promise. A raucous racket of sub-Bloc Party irreverence left a bitter taste long after the music had finished playing. This sort of low-budget indie-shoutiness has become so hackneyed in today's aural climate that mild, dispassionate distain is all I could muster towards their previous work, hosted until recently on their Myspace page. I certainly saw no reason to be excited.And now”¦ well. Now there's this.It seems to have been sprung out of nowhere. This is beautiful. And, suddenly, I'm very excited indeed.The Ambulance EP is a remarkable record. It's the sort of music that lifts your mind to a different plane of existence, dreamy and understated in its elegance. It's so far removed from The Gullivers' previous work that I found myself double-checking it was, indeed, the same band, and not simply a namesake. Its drifting melodies and simmering ambience point towards the more commercial end of the post-rock spectrum, but it remains admirably grounded and unpretentious throughout. It really is a spectacular leap forward in the band's maturity.Mark Byrne is a wonderful vocalist, experimenting with his instrument to astonishingly vibrant effect. Swinging radically in and out of tune and time, it drives the trio of songs onwards in a chaotic dimension of its own, vulnerable and affecting. Elsewhere, guitars and keyboards shimmer and shine, glistening with every reverberated note. It's whimsical and inspiring.It's also extremely rough around the edges. The Gullivers could certainly do with a more adept producer and, at times, more awareness of the bigger picture of each song. The bass in particular occasionally appears rather tasteless and intrusive, and would benefit from a little less vigour and more careful thought. And, sometimes, the whole texture seems somewhat flimsy ”“ though it could well be this minimalism that adds so much magic to The Gullivers' sound.That this definitely isn't the finished, shrink-wrapped package is only testament to how much potential The Gullivers now find themselves with. This new direction is, without any doubt, the way forward for a band that, previously, too heavily relied on clichéd new-wave borrowings. The Ambulance EP is different. Despite its shortcomings, it's a very special record indeed. 89%The Gullivers on Myspace