This week's feature: Relief Maps

Relief Maps, Graveyard Smash (Self-released

WHO

Riff-happy Ottawa quintet.

DISCOGRAPHY

Sunrise Seaport (Self-released, 2006)
Graveyard Smash (Self-released, 2008)

IN A NUTSHELL

With Graveyard Smash, Relief Maps succesfully make the jump to a full-length without losing anything that made them worth checking out in the first place.

THE STORY

As much as I loved Relief Maps' debut EP, I've got to admit that I was a little pessimistic about how they'd follow it up. After all, they basically went underground for a year while recording it, abstaining from live shows and releasing nothing online that suggested they were working out new material. While that's to be expected from, say, a band who can afford the radio silence, from a band that's virtually unknown beyond Ottawa's borders, it didn't seem like a reason for optimish. On top of that, SUnrise Seaport could pretty much be summed up as "Tokyo Police Club with a female lead singer", and TPC's recent attempt at a full-length showed that the sound doesn't work so well when stretched out over a full album.

Then again, maybe TPC just did it wrong. After all, Graveyard Smash is a significant step up from Sunrise Seaport, and it's not as if there's a substantial difference between it and Sunrise Seaport. It keeps up the catchy riffs and happy-clappy attitude (as my girlfriend calls it) that made Relief Maps so promising in the first place, and just expands the template out over a full album. They even borrow a song from their first release -- Seaport's standout track, "Stamp Out Fatigue" -- to make the transition from the EP to the LP all the more seamless.

That said, Relief Maps have definitely evolved as a band. First and foremost, Katie Duross has become a pretty strong lead singer. Whereas before she often seemed to be arual wallpaper (for lack of a better term), content with sitting back and being swallowed up by the music, here she seems to have embraced her status as the band's frontwoman. In part, this can be attributed to better production, and the fact the band recorded the album themselves. But an even bigger part of it is that Duross is a lot more confident now than she was before. Rather than settling for being pleasant, here she seems to push herself, as if she's realized that hitting the right emotion counts for as much as hitting the right notes. Her voice is as nice as ever, but songs like "Shark Into Gold" and "Hair Play" show that she's also figured out that one or two off-key notes go a long way toward weaving in just the right amount of vulnerability.

Of course, in the end, Graveyard Smash's strength all comes down to the fact that each of the songs have irresistable riffs at their cores. That "Stamp Out Fatigue" stands out should be no surprise, given that it did on their EP as well, but it gains something from the presence of "The Water Song" leading into it. Further, it's followed up by "Young Typist", which may just supplant it for the title of the band's best song -- helped, undoubtedly, by the fact it has just a hint of Wolf Parade to it. Other songs, like "Frontier Stew" and the opening title track, may not make as immediate an impression, but if you listen to the album enough, they'll eventually work their ways into your subconscious.

And this is probably Relief Maps' biggest achievement: that a band that builds songs around deceptively simple, incredibly catchy riffs has made a full-length that's actually a bit of a grower. Undoubtedly, individual songs on Graveyard Smash will grab you right away. But give it a concentrated listen (preferably on headphones), and you'll come to realize and appreciate that it's actually a pretty great whole.

Want to win Graveyard Smash? Thanks to Relief Maps, i(heart)music has a copy to give away. To enter to win, just e-mail me your name and mailing address, and I'll randomly select a winner!