Ladies and gentlemen, at long last, the best album of 2008.  I can’t believe I didn’t get a chance to hear this until the last month, and then only because a small blogger turned me on to it.  What a revelation

Plants and Animals are from Montreal, and “Parc Avenue” is not their debut.  But it is extraordinary.  The lead cut is ironically named “Bye Bye Bye,” but it ain’t no N’Sync cover.  It’s an apt intro cut, with the refrain, “What’s gonna happen to you?  You have woke up too soon,” sung over soaring harmonies and horns, an epic beginning for a textured album that never sits still, never gets comfortable, and is never predictable.  I’m not even going to compare to to anything. It’s incomparable!

This is one of the greatest albums I have ever heard.  Have I raved enough yet?  Even the arty and picky Pitchfuck liked it, giving the album an “8.0.”  (Why do they need to use decimal points?  Are their ratings really that mathematically precise?)  You can score it at Amazon and lots of other places, and you should.  Now.

Guru