Don't blink

Canadian yelpers Tokyo Police Club map out the crucial difference between cursory and terse on their debut full length, Elephant Shell. The whole shebang clocks in at several minutes shy of half an hour, and it might seem cheap if its brevity wasn't so full of wit. These songs are as complex as they are short, and they're riddled with well-conceived zigs and zags. The first six, in particular, whiz past as a paradoxically memorable blur of sharp guitar figures and precision-cut rhythms. The album's first half is so tight that it's difficult to parse; even after dozens of spins, every song sounds like a single. Actual singles "In a Cave" and "Tessellate" feature wry keening and densely knotted melodies, just like the songs at their shoulders; "Juno" distinguishes itself with a slower pace and some mordantly tense piano chords, but its effect is no more or less incisive.

Whoo alright yeah uh huh.