The High Dials — War Of The Wakening Phantoms

The High Dials have not only continued to title songs as if they're a prog-rock band (um, "Master Of The Clouds?"), but they're still in love with silken harmonies and Brit-pop. Don't love them because they're from sexy Montreal, do it because these Teenage Fanclub worshippers spike their warm songs with a treasure chest of sounds: a banjo here, backmasked cymbals there, even some '80s bar sax plays a role in War.

At the centre of these charms are the songs — the romantic Stills-meets-Zombies "Soul In Lust" combines dirty guitar riffs and tabla twang, while "Winter Ghosts" is a strings-laden pop-noir nugget akin to their citymates, The Dears. And while dreamy ballad "The Lost Explorer" plays it safe (though still preferable to Coldplay), the dreamiest track, "Your Eyes Are A Door," is breathtaking in its lonely desert stargazing set to electronic beats.

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