With splashes of afro-pop and staccato rhythm, beams of 90s fuzz and smears of 60s psychedelic, Spirit Plate (self-titled) is a record of nervous joy and unbound energy. On this 9 song fruit-pop of a record you'll find everything from frantic guitar spazzing ("Why, Why, Why Why,") to cascading saxophones ("Hole in Your Heart") to bird-like flute flutters ("Broken Prose"), to good old classic rock structures ("Try & Try to Be").

Brian Russ delivers straightforward, no-effects-needed vocals in a jarring, yet poignant manner. Brad Connolley plucks out melodic bass lines while delivering backing falsetto vocals that sometimes howls but always know when to whisper. Chris Ciao pounds out beats that can stray and add tensions, but then sits in the pocket and lets the songs cook in the sun.

Lyrics like "lately things all seem the same / here comes another hurricane" are straight up apocalyptic in their poetry. Yet there is a tenderness here in fragments such as "through the rhythms of the night / through the darkest part of fear / a child breaks down and cries / a mother wipes away her tears." This band, as fast paced and as bombastic as they can be, also knows how to slow things down and get you to that lucid state of daydreaming, where everything just is. On the last track on the record, "Try & Try to Be," they do a great job reminding us never to forget: "spirits are everywhere.."

Well if this album is indeed a summer creamsicle with both tart and smooth flavors coming through, the trick then is, can you digest it all before it melts?

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