"Strange."

That was the first word that came to my mind as I listened to this album. I had never heard Jetenderpaul before and I was caught completely off guard by how unusual this album seemed to be. My first listen left me very perplexed, so I had to listen again. Four tries later, I am still delightfully confused.

Spires is very lo-fi, and in fact was recorded in band member Jared Miller's room. To me, the mix is gritty and at times hard to listen to, but it works. This band's love for their art is apparent in their complex and layered compositions. Most of the tracks are fairly brief (around 2 minutes). There seems to be little concern for the usual standards of stock musical composition (tonic resolution, verse-chorus-bridge patterns, etc.), and it almost seems as if they purposely want to be unpopular.

This album is oriented towards the art/indie/vinyl market. Open-minded musical adventure seekers (and indie rock elitists) will totally love this album, but I'm afraid that the average Joe Blow will be confused and/or annoyed. (Jetenderpaul seems to be a lot like Danielson Family-either you'll love them or you'll hate them.) The general feel of many (but not all) of the tracks is of surf music, with the dreamy taste of Starflyer-ish guitars. (On their website, the band mentions the Beach Boys among their influences, and you can certainly hear it.) There is also a definite tripped, psychedelic edge to this album.

Lyrically, this album is again, strange. The song titles range from three to thirteen words long and quite often have absolutely nothing to do with the story told in the lyrics. Most of the songs seem to be little snippets of emotion and thought wrapped up in a brief musical package. Quite often, I am left wondering what in the world they are talking about, but it's very fun to try to guess.

Some of the standout tracks include "It's All Chicanery" (the first song on the album-it's only 50 seconds long, yet it stands on its own as a very complete musical thought); "Epson: The Anxious Bench" (I have no idea what the lyrics of this song are about, but boy, do I love the music! It starts with the sound of an old dot matrix printer, which moves into the dreamy/surfer vein before flowing into this great 50's rock-and-roll guitar solo. It finally ends with the "aegghkkk, aeeghkk" sound of the printer again); "The Road to Damascus" (this song reminds me at moments of Starflyer 59 with the dreamy guitar riffs, but at other times it reminds me of Danielson with the rhythm and the vocal harmonies); and "The Phenomenological Rhetoric of Summer Lingers On" (despite its serious sounding name, this song is downright silly! It has one of the most memorable Danielson-ish melodies on the album).

I also have to give special mention to the last two songs. "Our Epic Banality" was probably my favorite song on the album. It starts off soft and gentle with-

In the morning when I whisper your name,
it sounds like leaves dancing in the rain.
And when I see you,
I know I won't contain these feelings,
These longings again.
So today, let the people say,
Let them know that we're in love.

Then it moves into a slow-but-heavy guitar thing that sounds like Pep Squad or maybe SF59 on the Americana album with the lines-

We're in love,
We're in love,
Do you really think that makes us something?

What does it all mean? You got me, but I really dig it.

Also the hidden track (which I'll call "Those days are gone") was a very touching song that really connected with me. This song's pop melody and sad lyrics do a good job of describing what it feels like to look back on what you thought was love.

Finally, I can't forget to mention the album art. It is the best I have seen in a long time. It is so mysterious and thought-provoking. I especially like the Victorian era comics that make no sense, but yet maybe in a weird way do make sense. My one criticism is that it would be cool if they had the album lyrics somewhere. (They're not even on the website.) These lyrics are so unusual, I would love to be able to read them and contemplate their deep inner meaning (or lack thereof).