Son, Ambulance

Omaha’s Son, Ambulance finally delivers on the indie-pop promises of its debut EP, Oh, Holy Fools. Joe Knapp, the reckless and impassioned singer-songwriter driving the ambulance, has assembled eleven timeless and ecstatically melancholy gems into one career-defining album. If Badly Drawn Boy recorded an album of Jackson Browne and Leonard Cohen covers, the ensuing rapture might sound something like this. This Key has unlocked the door to perfectly crafted piano pop, enriched with gigantic orchestral textures, indie-rock poetry and a fathomless spring of sadness. Melodic beauties like “Paper Snowflakes” and “Pleasure, Now” raise blissful goosebumps, while seven minutes of relentlessly rhythmic “Sex in C Minor” are sure to bring on multiple eargasms.