The second album from these Austin noisemakers drifts from mind-sweeping tranquillity to cathartic cacophony, sometimes in the course of a single song. It all pushes toward overload by the end -- many of the songs follow the same formula of a slow build to a glorious breakdown -- but the band's mix of guitar simplicity and sonic ambition works to construct a tower of super sound. The distortion, too, plays a part on
Madonna; it serves as both primal instrument and harmonic distracter. Decent post-rock for a new century. ~ Michael Gallucci