Recording information: Texas, Unites States.

Explosions in the Sky's second effort takes a more studied, even lush approach to the literate chaos of their 2001 debut. But put on your sad sack thinking cap now, because Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place is a contemplative and heady rush of masterful melancholia. Its six songs are multi-minute, slow motion workouts of gentle electric guitar plucks and subtle/sudden washes of percussion -- they're still instrumental, but as lyrical as anything in the indie rock universe. "Only Moment We Were Alone" turns on a simple, melancholy guitar figure, the drums shifting from insistent catch-up mode to a studied march built to introduce the next layered crescendo. Explosions in the Sky doesn't shift as suddenly or jarringly on Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place; the quartet has applied more structural predictability this time out, but is still quick about setting the sad butterflies in your stomach to fluttering. "Memorial" is the album's meditative heart. It begins so quietly, reduced to brittle landscapes of tone. Lightly chiming guitars drift in, like the echoes of church bells off in narrow city streets. Then, like each of the album's movements, it surges forward in a rush, like the overtures of Sonic Youth separated, dried, and ultimately lengthened in the blistering Texas sun. The final blast of distortion and staccato drumming is Earth at full bittersweet bluster. "Your Hand in Mine" ends things as they began, with a pair of determined guitars picking out a melody that's both pretty and pretty damn heartbreaking. ~ Johnny Loftus

Explosions in the Sky is set to make a noticeable mark on the indie rock scene. It combines epic guitar architecture a la Sonic Youth, the spatial manipulation of slowcore bands like Low, and the instrumental rock ambition of upstarts like Mogwai. While the band's 2001 debut trafficked in whiplash stylistic change-ups and hard rock dynamics, THE EARTH IS NOT A COLD DEAD PLACE is strikingly uniform in tone and sensibility. Here the group's straightforward instrumentation of guitars, bass, and percussion coalesces into a shifting landscape of lovely and irresistible dreaminess.

There are only five tracks on the album, but each song evolves through several movements, with delicate, ringing melodies plucked out on guitars--overlapping and eclipsing each other, while bass and drums create pulses that are both ambient and insistent. The tone throughout is deeply meditative, and often melancholic. But the intelligence and meticulous craft behind the Explosions' instrumental interplay is enough to keep even the most jaded indie rock ears attuned. Though THE EARTH is moody, subtle, and deliberately paced, it is also a deeply absorbing listen, and promises even greater things to come from this inventive band.