This Canadian duo composed their spectral electro-pop debut by writing tracks back and forth via e-mail over hundreds of miles. That sense of distance permeates the music: dark, mutable, likably repetitive  synth whirr that recalls artfully creepy bands like the Knife. Instrumentalist Corin Roddick makes atonal friction, and singer Megan James' piercing vocals balance the ominously visceral ("Dig holes in me with wooden carved trowels," she commands on "Grandloves") and the atmospherically delighted (on "Obedear" we learn she "came down over the sleeping mountains"). You can be sure her feet never touched the ground.

Listen to 'Shrines':

“Is It True”

As the British Invasion reached its peak in 1964, Brenda Lee went from Nashville to London to record one of her hardest-rocking hits, her perky vocal backed by a stuttering, squalling guitar. That guitar was played by session musician Jimmy Page, yet to skyrocket to fame with first the Yardbirds and then Led Zeppelin. "She said to me, 'I've come here to make a record with the British sound,'" remembered producer Mickie Most. "She felt she wouldn't get the same sound in Nashville because they're only just catching up on the British beat group sound of about six months ago."