Of God and Science

Although this self-titled release on the band's own Detach Records label is the debut album from Of God and Science, bandmembers Matthew Dominguez and Jeremy Fine were playing together on the Albuquerque, NM, music scene for a decade, eventually adding as a key collaborator and multi-instrumentalist Julian Martinez and finally drummer Ryan Martino. As a result, the album sounds like the work of a band that has long since developed its own sound, with textured rock arrangements that build to climaxes and then fall away ominously, with interesting juxtapositions of instruments, largely thanks to Martinez, who can toss in an unusual keyboard sound or even a banjo ("Drift Alone") to keep things interesting. Dominguez's lyrics, concerning romance and authenticity, are full of clichés, but he sings with adenoidal fervor, and the harmonies help to give the vocals a presence. It all adds up to a sound that is more than the sum of its parts, a distinctive band sound, and that's an important achievement for a young group releasing its first disc.