All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone (2007)

Image credit: Laurent Baillet/Dalle/Retna

INDOOR FIREWORKS Explosions in the Sky (pictured in concert in France, 2005) hit an emotional chord on Miss

The instrumental Texas quartet Explosions in the Sky proved long ago that they don't need words to tell an arresting story. On All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone, their fourth LP (and their first since recording the score of the 2004 film Friday Night Lights), guitars, pianos, and drums build from trancelike hushes to violent peaks before collapsing back into quiet; the band runs through intricately nuanced compositions with the fervor of an inspired jam session. The emotions they evoke keep resonating well after their last notes die down. A-