There are a few excellent bands out there that toil away without really getting enough attention to impact the market in a major way. This band is one of them. Hailing from the USA, Thirteen Senses is an excellent live band, and in this new album has created music of wonderful quality and beauty.

Imagine Coldplay with better songs, more sincerity and passion. Then listen to opener Contact and you’ll get my point. Powerful guitar rhythms, stupendous melody, and a beautifully expressive vocal is what you’ll hear. Add great lyrics and superb production and you have a song that is made for the charts and music festivals – epic in scope, passionate in performance. All The Love In Your Hands has a longish upbeat instrumental intro to a soaring vocal that changes key at will and easily. In the first 2 songs the guys have served an object lesson to Brit bands like Travis, Keane and Embrace - the more emo rock bands. Animal is an interesting mix of threatening instrumentals overlaid with a soothing vocal – it shouldn’t work but it does. Call Someone is a moving, slow-paced album highlight with drums and guitar providing a well-judged backdrop. Another highlight is the haunting A Lot Of Silence Here with vocal harmonies and distant guitar providing added drama and depth to a beautiful song. Towards the end of the album piano is used to wonderful effect on songs like Under The Sun and Spark with its dreamscape ambience. Final track Ones & Zeroes is an epic yet gentle song with extended instrumental passages and a vocal that will have you in goose bumps. If you’re a fan of the bands mentioned above then you owe to yourself to secure this album – surely one of the most gorgeous pop-rock albums of the year.

4.5/5