All Tiny Creatures

To date, Wisconsin's Thomas Wincek has been a part of musical outfits that take great care, both in name and practice, to emphasize the notion of a group of musicians working together toward a common purpose. With Collections of Colonies of Bees and Volcano Choir, he's also been part of some of the more sumptuous and slippery music to hit ears during the past decade. In comparison, All Tiny Creatures' Harbors is a calculated sell-out move, especially when you consider notable vocal contributions from members of up-and-coming rock/ folk act Megafaun and Bon Iver troubadour-gone-Kanye West collaborator Justin Vernon.

However, the loaded term "sell-out" would only apply if you think the world will buy into music that can sound like an amalgam of The Beta Band, Philip Glass, The Field and This Heat. That's the sort of heady mix Harbors has to offer, as Wincek and his accomplices go about creating music that moves in unfamiliar yet intriguing ways. It's undeniably rhythmic, as the bumping and stuttering "Glass Bubbles" ably proves, but not in a pushy or aggressive manner. Tracks like the hyper-harmonized "Tine Features" or the gently rolling "Holography" are relentlessly melodic, but the melodies are mercurial. As for the high-profile vocal guests, both the Megafaun posse and Vernon are treated less like superstar soloists and more like cogs in an idea-efficient machine. If there's one word to describe the music on Harbors, it's alive. More than a band, All Tiny Creatures is an organism, proof positive that the cliche about the whole being greater than the sum of its parts became a cliché for a very good reason. —David Raposa