Alta Mira It’s been two long years since Metroland named Alta Mira the region’s Best New Band, and so there’d been some speculation that the category might carry a curse similar to that of being featured on the cover. [Ed.—We have determined the curse to be a myth.] As it turns out, the quartet had simply been cloistered away at Barefoot Studios in Massachusetts honing material for this, their full-length debut, the inaugural record for Albany upstart label Indian Ledge Records. Thankfully, all that attention to detail has paid off, as Alta Mira is a powerfully mature offering that doesn’t shy away from either art-rock grandeur or radio viability. Vocalist Joe D. Michon-Huneau doesn’t hesitate to display all that his sterling pipes can do, with a post-emo penchant for musical theatrics that ranges from Jeff Buckley confessional to Cedric Bixler-Zavala virtuosic. But as much as Michon-Huneau dominates the disc, brothers Hunter and August Sagehorn (guitar and bass, respectively) shape it. Standout tracks like “Sinker/Or,” with its Sea and Cake lilt, and “Slumberjack,” built on a bed of fuzz bass, prove that the band are hiding some serious chops behind their economic songcraft. Like a post-Radiohead Andy Summers, Hunter prefers to play delicate time-signature games with his brother and drummer Tommy Krebs rather than take a solo, and “Harder They Fall” succumbs to outward because-we-can prog-rock. Dig the hazy “Interlude” for what the instrumental trio can do by their lonesome. Graced with the kind of masterly production that used to be reserved for major-label acts, this is a serious disc from a band with serious aspirations. More than shake a curse, this one should set Alta Mira up for loftier superlatives. —Josh Potter