Bands are like children in some ways: They grow by leaps and bounds while you aren't looking. Take the Rails, for example: Parallel Movements feels like their freshman release, Life's A Lonely Road, all grown up. While the earlier release seemed to stand on wobbly legs as a collection of good songs, Parallel Movements stands tall without quivering, as a unified album. The songs sound not only like they were recorded and engineered in the same session, but they're closed up and woven together with threads of optimism, melancholy, and nostalgia, and just a touch of anger. Some of the tracks are maddeningly addictive ("The Next Life" or "How Did He Die?"), while others are contemplative ("One by One").

Parallel Movements is the kind of power pop that begs you to blast it with the top down. The songs are high energy and positive—but don't be quick to cast them in the same light as so many la-la-land postive rockers: The Rails are serious. On the balance happy, sure, but seriously happy, nonetheless. These aren't tracks to accompany the vacant stares of self-lobotomized students who think that the worst thing you can do is point out that things are bad, but the Rails don't dwell. "The Paradigm Shift" and "Conspiracy Song" contain thoughtful commentaries, even as the underlying message is the same as the rest of the tracks: We can overcome whatever hardships there are, and the first step is to recognize that those hardships exist.

Parallel Movements leaves you wanting more, which is all an album can hope to do: We're already looking forward to the next album or, better yet, a live show.

The Rails