[ROMI MAYES] is a soul who's lived life and endured life; sometimes dark and sometimes beautiful, it's often both at the same time. She handles bluegrass, blues and edgy alt-country effortlessly, but it's on the stark ballads where she's at her raw and gritty best as her achingly sweet voice rises above the heartbreakingly beautiful harmonies and [Dan Walsh]'s plaintive dobro.

Luckily, BLAM exceeds that unworthy benchmark. It's not quite as biting as the Toronto quintet's underrated last album, Everything to Everyone, but it's a collection of lovely tunes, more often than not wrapped around scathing sentiments; there's a deep sense of self-loathing and bitterness in several songs that's masked with rich production and pretty melodies.

While singer Jeremy Greenspan and partner Matt Didemus haven't abandoned the melancholic melodies, stripped-down percussion and soft murmuring synths, that doesn't mean they turned out a carbon copy of Last Exit. Striking a delicate balance between tender minimal gems like their cover of Sinatra's When No One Cares and the glitchy pulse of cuts like In The Morning, the duo's spacious, code-crunching digital pop never sounds better than on So This is Goodbye's standout tracks Counting Souvenirs and The Equalizer. Pencil this album in as another candidate for best of the year and check 'em out this Friday at the Pyramid. HHHH