Pitchfork

Tulsa is not from Tulsa, nor even anywhere near it. The Massachusetts band isn't even technically named for the Oklahoma city, but rather for the 1971 book of photos by Larry Clark that depicted Oklahoma youths indulging in promiscuous sex, drug abuse, and violence. Clark went on to direct KIDS, Bully, and Another Day in Paradise in the 1990s, which gives you an idea of how dark his worldview is. Tulsa the band isn't nearly so focused on depravity and self-destruction, but their Southern rock-influenced music does have a hint of danger and a dark tone descended from old murder ballads.

The quickest, easiest comparison for Tulsa is My Morning Jacket-- loud guitars, lots of reverb, and soaring vocals all make them superficially similar. Below the surface, though, they're quite different, and Tulsa has developed a strong and intriguing sonic character for its songs. Lead singer Carter Tanton has a spectacular voice, and he uses it to the fullest, with long, plunging held notes, wordless accents, and a self-harmonizing technique that lends weightlessness to some of his best melodic phrases. His voice, as much as the songwriting, makes these songs memorable and gives them an ageless quality.

Though Tanton could probably sing a recipe for chocolate éclairs and still make it sound good, Tulsa still delivers a consistent if somewhat vague lyrical view, featuring couplets like, "Your mind is a newborn child/ Disappointment drives it wild," from "Rafter". That song has one of the band's most interesting arrangements, with swells of organ that rise up through the guitars and a drum part based more on full-kit patterns than a simple beat.

They're good at building contrasting sections into their songs, with rough lead guitar parts that balance the smooth effortlessness of the vocals. A major-key guitar riff rises suddenly out of the minor-key murk of "#2", which begins as a foreboding descent into darkness with a snaking organ part and panicked vocals that recall a less preacherly version of 16 Horsepower's David Eugene Edwards. "Shaker" shifts on a dime into a texture dominated by acoustic guitar, then just as quickly shifts back to thick-toned electric riffage. "Mass" is just a heavenly, high-powered rock song, with a beautiful melody and huge, twanging guitar part.

On just their second EP (at seven songs and half an hour, you could call it a mini-album), this band sounds very ready to have a great run. Though credited as a quartet here, they've since pared back to a trio, which hardly seems like something that will stop them, because they still have the centerpiece of the band in that voice. Even their less compelling moments, such as the mostly instrumental meander "I Feel Great", help fortify the group's sonic world. I look forward to their first full-length.