At War with Walls & Mazes

Son Lux basks in a landscape of contradictions. The NYC act mixes the swirl of psychedelic with the rich production of trip hop, the hypnotics of classical minimalism with the franticness of jungle, all tied together with the dispassionate emotionalism that made Postal Service such a hit. Moreover, on AT WAR WITH WALLS AND MAZES, Son Lux sounds the trumpet of a seeming army of musicians, yet it's mostly singer/composer/programmer Ryan Lott driving the mesmerizing 2008 record. Lott's voice is plaintive as Antony Hegarty's, as tortured as Devendra Banhart's, as vulnerable as Lou Barlow's, and it hides perfectly within the folds of the chaotically inviting music on an oddly appealing debut.