Album: Alcoholic Faith Mission, Let This Be the Last Night...(Pony)

This Brooklyn band seem as interested in the accidental creaks that sliding fingers make between forming guitar chords as the chords themselves, and presumably also delight in the moments when the signal from a mercilessly punished musical instrument goes into the red.

But the tunes are strong and hymnal, with echoes of Arcade Fire and Califone, and the album's one would-be hit, "Got Love? Got Shellfish!" has a thrilling Bowie-esque chorus. Sombre yet still life-affirming.