Moonlight Towers: Day Is the New Night

Moonlight Towers have been hailed as both Austin’s finest power pop export and the city’s three-minute heroes. And for good reason. The quartet comes on fast, hits hard, and almost always leaves you wanting more. Rather than re-treading the jangle rock practically invented by Big Star and perfected by the likes of early R.E.M. and the Feelies, this quartet expands the palette with horns and shimmy/shake rhythms that are more in tune with classic R&B than anything those aforementioned acts tried. Vocalist James Stevens occasionally sounds like the spawn of W. Axl Rose and Dave Pirner (it’s way better than you think), while the rest of the outfit shoots and shakes their way through nine compact, hook-driven numbers (seven of which never make it past the threshold of four minutes). Best bets here include the soulful psychedelia of “Distant Wheels” and the front porch strummer “Comes a Time”.