I have never seen the Pacific Ocean. Hell, I've never been further west than Manhattan, Kansas, a town that overbills itself as the Little Apple. As an American, I almost feel denied a certain birthright having never truly gone west. The result of this is that I've mythologized the West in my head. I often long to go out and see what it's really like, even though I suspect that the Pacific looks suspiciously like the Atlantic with a bit more flannel on the locals.

The Swords Project is from the West. Oregon, to be specific. When I think of Oregon, the picture of some idyllic, forested land shrouded in a perpetual mist comes to mind, and this band's self-titled EP is doing nothing to dispel this myth. If anything, this seven-piece's debut effort fortifies it. Stuck somewhere between Mogwai's textured wall of sound and Godspeed You Black Emperor!'s richly evocative tone poems, the music of the Swords Project fills me with views of high cliffs above crashing waves. You can almost smell the pines and salt.

Clocking in at an economical 28 minutes over the course of four tracks, the EP manages to pack more than enough variety to maintain interest. Comparisons to Godspeed are inevitable, as the Swords Project behave as a collective, with each of the seven members contributing their part and staying out of each other's way. They tend to develop their pieces at a much quicker rate, though, and three of these tracks sport bona fide vocals, albeit vocals that are nearly indecipherable and feel more like a part of the musical tapestry than a centerpiece.

"Shannon's Wedding Song" opens things with quiet guitars calling to each other like ships through the fog communicating by lamp. The soothing repetition sets up the entrance of the rest of the band rather nicely, and the track develops a driving groove as it journeys through shifting textures dominated by Rhodes piano and thoughtfully strummed guitar chords. There are a few truly inspired, if a bit out-of-tune, violin breaks and the crescendo at the song's mid-point is nothing if not engrossing. There are huge smears of Young Team all over this stuff, and as the track winds to an electronically-altered denouement, it's hard to truthfully say that you'll feel like the band is taking you somewhere you haven't already been.

As "Shannon's Wedding Song" peters out in a static haze, the insistent piano ostinatos and shuffling drums of "The New Assassin" make for a welcome change of pace, gliding forward effortlessly on a buoyant bassline. This is the EP's biggest standout, moody and intricate. The layers of guitar fold back at the end to make room for a surprising vocal break, but the addition of a singer so late in the piece, while pleasant, is hardly necessary.

"Squatting Level" and "Case Study in Pathetics" each feature the same subdued, inscrutable vocals, seemingly placed at haphazard intervals. This is a bit of a double-edged sword, if you'll pardon the pun, as the vocals are strong, but seem very underdeveloped. This aspect of their sound does serve to separate them from their peers, however, and it's nice to hear an ensemble that could easily get by instrumentally trying to branch out.

The last two tracks do fill in some of the blanks left by the first two, though. "Squatting Level," in particular, reveals the Swords Project's willingness to experiment in the studio, with sampled spoken word beaming out through delay and reverb processors toward the end, lending the track a haunted feel. The vocals are a little more front and center on "Case Study," but the band still refuses to actually showcase them. It's a shame, because whichever member is singing actually has a pretty decent voice. Despite the presence of a singer, the tidal wash of the song is the moment that most resembles that certain collective from Montreal, with glowing guitars hovering over subtly shifting harmonies.

The Swords Project have managed to craft an appealing, if slightly derivative debut here, hinting at great potential. It never quite reaches the emotional highs of their better post-rock peers, but as the band finds their own voice, they stand to craft some formidable music. For now, I'm glad to have this record to tide me until the first full-length comes out.

-Joe Tangari