The Rest are Hamilton, Ontario born and bred. Of course they are. That sleepy nation of Canada is home to many of modern alternative music’s great heroes, and here’s one more to warm your cockles.So it’s cold and sparse in Canada, right? Yes. But at the same time it is irrevocably magical. Landscapes mostly unspoiled and clouded in dreamy white. I would say the very same about The Rest. Despite the very obviousness of comparing their music to their home surroundings (aren’t we all the product of our environment, nature, nurture n’ all that) it is an essential part of this bands sound, and they do admit to only speaking in ”snow.” I can speak snow too.Hardly ever am I struck by an album in its first few moments but “Coughing Blood/Fresh Mountain Air” hits the spot. A weaving orchestral menagerie; the album couldn’t have started more perfectly. One epic crescendo of melancholy compounded by the brilliance of the vocals. Sounding like a less whiny Win Butler the harmonies soar. Arcade Fire comparisons aside, inevitable as they are, The Rest have a distinctive sound that doesn’t always dwell in darkness and can in fact be quite fun at times. The imaginative and at times playful instrumentation coupled with the clear vision of the song writing results in complete delights like “Modern Time Travel“. Grande pop at it’s best.I could talk about every song on its own merit. There is an eerie-ness that runs through every track. The wind in the trees, the owls at night. This keeps you involved, sitting by the warmth of the vocals. The fire light. But there aren’t any wolves in this land, you’re completely safe from harm. “Phonetically, Phonetically” encompasses everything about the band. Ghostly, candescent, soulful and joyous pop. Even if "Drinking Again" sounds like a complete rip of OK Computer's “Exit Music (For a film)” I’ll forgive them because “Blossom Babies Part Two” is yet more sheer majestic longing. Again I am playing on obvious metaphors of blizzards and cold landscape, but euphoric pangs of melancholy arch every note of the ensuing.At times dark and disillusioned, at others festive and blissful, often in the same song, The Rest are a very intelligent band, thought provoking and lyrically poetic (I was shot out of a canon, saw the desert where there used to be the Atlantic, I’m across the sea, and Egyptians are looking at me, But I won’t let you go even if you disappear on me - The Lady Vanishes) . “The Lady Vanishes” is in respect of the 1938 Hitchcock film of the same name, of which the music video is a 6 minute screening of . Pining and loss are concurrent themes of the album which all in all is an exercise in catharsis. The title track closes the record with a typically poetic magic. The added factor that this is there first long player makes it difficult to believe that it can sound so fully formed and complete.Stiflingly good band and brilliantly crafted music. Come one, come all![vimeo]http://vimeo.com/7342230[/vimeo]

Buy the album from Rough Trade