Half Moon Run: Dark Eyes

Half Moon Run are pushing an open door with their debut album. Dark Eyes' harmonic swings and melodic roundabouts are catnip for these times, a sound that belongs smack bang in the middle of indie rock's Venn diagram. The Montreal band are drinking from the same wells as Band of Horses, Fleet Foxes and Grizzly Bear, though they occasionally strike their own quietly bolder notes. There's an intensity throughout the album, with singer Devon Portielje dramatically and artfully beating himself up again and again over relationships gone bad and their aftermaths (No More Losing the War, Drug You), all done with a timbre of Jeff Buckleyesque proportions. The problem is that there aren't yet enough of those unique moments. Once Half Moon Run locate them, they're set for another level entirely. halfmoonrun.com
Download: No More Losing the War, Drug You