Reviving the early Nineties before that became a career path, Magnet School cranks and croons like Bill Clinton was still in office. When the Austin quartet emerged, indulgence in six-string sonic wash wasn’t yet hip, so their 2007 debut Tonight We Drink… Tomorrow We Battle the Evil at Hand scanned tentative. Released nine years later, sophomore slab The Art of Telling the Truth oozes confidence and command. Coating riffs in a glistening sheen of distortion, axe men Mark Ford and Michael J. Wane emphasize big Catherine Wheel melody over gossamer My Bloody Valentine atmosphere. Singing with plainspoken heart, the pair spears songs over sound. “The Double Agent” and “So Long to the Heavens” soar more than shimmer, giving the LP a power that yanks eyes from shoes. Meaning every note, The Art of Telling the Truth fills the sky.

***.5

This article appears in February 12 • 2016.

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Michael Toland started writing about music in 1988 on the Gulf Coast, moved to Austin in early 1991, and has inflicted bylines upon the corporeal and digital pages of Pop Culture Press, The Big Takeover, Blurt, Amplifier, Austin.citysearch, the Austin American Statesman, Goldmine, Sleazegrinder, Rock & Roll Globe, High Bias, FHT Music Notes, and, since 2011, The Austin Chronicle.