Mean Red Spiders

The second disc from Toronto quintet Mean Red Spiders builds on the wall of sound of their first album, Places You Call Home, and continues to build into the kind of layering found only in a hall of mirrors or a 1000 room castle. Disarmingly vague, sweet and fuzzy, scratchy lyrics and a layering of swirling ascension hint at My Bloody Valentine and memories of Stereolab. I still can't tell what lead singer Lisa Nighswander is saying, and at times the music blends seamlessly into the background and all is dreamlike, then powerfully re-emerges into focus, commands attention, then slips again off into the milky filament. It's a gem of beauty, stretching out long and glistening to the horizon of musical Shangri la.