On The New Imperative, Averkiou balance warmness with wanton waling. On one hand, they seem to draw from college rock--Smiths-style ambiguous guitar lines overlap each other, creating a solid bed of shimmering sound. At times, the vocals seem distanced, reflective and somewhat forlorn, echoing indie titians Pavement as much as Pet Sounds.

However, although the EP seems at time inviting, by degrees, the sound stacks and stacks on top of itself, until the sheets of sound become a drowning volume, suggesting more My Bloody Valentine than Johnny Marr. What's most interesting is how seamlessly the change occurs. One moment the band is sailing on soothing waves, looking into their past, and the next they are crushing downward with so much volume of volume that the music becomes a tightly bound, indecipherable mass. Yet, you never can pinpoint when the metamorphosis takes place.

While the band has mastered their technique to the point where they wield its shifting parts with great deftness, paradoxically, their skill seems to hold them back. Although the music blends together in a fascinating, undulating trail, at no point does the music jump out at the listener. Without great focus, the music easily drifts into background white noise, and without concentration, can at times seem aimless.

Still, perhaps this record is supposed to be a challenger. Not in that the music is difficult listening--in fact the EP's unique grasps from other genres make it as inviting as it is massive--but in that it is intended to be the only thing worthy of focus, making the opening track's title "Fuzzy Photograph" that much more purposefully ambiguous, and their mandate as detailed by the EP's title, that much more clear.