If you lived in Pittsburgh, you'd know the story. Every town has its darling band that defines the local scene but at the same time is special, a little alien, a little apart. New Invisible Joy have been around for a bit under 10 years. It was their sound that made you drunk and dizzy in the cozy little corners of this town; Steel City hatched an exquisite songbird but held it captive. It was them who seemed to be always teetering on the brink of national success and never really made it out there - dice of luck and marketing falling wrong, the band's lifeline stretched thin to almost invisible in the past two years... but none of that really matters now.

The (relatively) freshly released Kontakt, long time in the making, is the band's third full length record that takes their already impressive craft up a notch. Don't expect a home-brewed small- time dirty sound, and don't expect stylistic gimmicks or cheap vocal shockers. Hush. It's impeccably crafted music - with enough grace and freshness and force to it to hold its own against the very best. It may seem to satisfy the same hunger that's fed by Radiohead and U2, but there is a difference that possibly was decisive in where the band is today, bigness-wise. New Invisible Joy possess an endearing aloofness like that of newly-earthlings soon after a fall from a secret planet. They learned to play naively solemn pop-rock, but they keep twisting the unfamiliar sounds this surprising way and that, filling with fresh wonder a seemingly uncomplicated commentary on love, loss and all else there is about life and our hearts.

The band is a four/five piece outfit, with a keyboardist added just recently to the lineup; the sound is well glued with bass and drums, but guitar and vocals worth a special lean of ear. Fluid, twining, whimsical, almost operatic at times, John Schisler's voice is a sheer aural delight. Mike Gaydos' guitar is a force to match John's unfailing vocal technique - perfectly articulated even at insane speed, and as perfectly expressive.

A truly delightful, fresh record.