Despite the band's protestations, This is not a Film is a richly cinematic album brimming with lush trip-hop wrapped in a dark gothic overcoat. The natural entry point into the band's sound is Melissa Mileski's voice. Mileski sings with a throaty alto. Her sound often contains a dispirited sense of collapse which invokes a languid torch singer in a post-modern cabaret. With her lyrics barely enunciated, the words themselves take a backseat to her enthralling series of moans and sustained cries.

Although they have worked with outside producers in the past (most notably Chris Vrenna, who has also worked with Die Warzau and Nine Inch Nails), the band requires no assistance with their sophomore full-length. They possess a seasoned instinct for creating mood and tension in a song. Take "Melc" as an example: the track opens with a minute of quiet chiming, which provides a contemplative foundation upon which the eventual subdued rhythm track can dance. Then Mileski's voice comes in -- a quiet croon that twists itself around the drums. When an additional keyboard melody enters, this pushes the tension up a notch. After the chorus, this new line leaves, but the drum pattern begins to mutate, adding spare fills which heighten the sense of anticipation. By the time the song reaches its second chorus, a soft, distorted guitar joins the mix as a snare gets added to the drum pattern. All of these elements combine to create a climax of serious release, despite bringing only a modest crescendo in volume. As the best songwriters will tell you, it doesn't have to be loud to be heavy. This is a lesson Underwater learned in a big way.

Other tracks reach similar moments of transcendence. The opening "Lightyears from Home" finds Mileski's vocals lilting like Gry Bagxien, who has recently worked with F. M. Einheit. Her double-tracked vocals on "Gun Metal", one desperate and wailing, the other quiet and hidden, easily send shivers down the spine. The rest of the band -- Alec Irvin, Jeremy Wilkins, and Matthew Jeanes -- serves primarily to give Mileski room to work her charms, but this does not mean that they are bit players. The consistent, intelligent restraint shown in the choices they make is critical to this equation. They understand how two extra notes or a quiet octave shift can add volumes to the stories the songs tell. And trust me, these are stories you'll want to hear again ain again.