Sleep and Release (2003)

Like fellow indie-rock Scots the Delgados, Aereogramme ply eerily fragile vocals and hearts-on-their-sleeves lyrics that hit you like that lip-splitting ice ball hurled by your spurned first-grade love. Sleep and Release is front-loaded with its two best songs, the loud-quiet-loud early-Weezer cousin ''Indiscretion #243'' and the Soft Bulletin-like symphonic poppy ''Black Path.'' But like Radiohead's Kid A, it's a rock album divided into movements closer in spirit to a dance record (complete with two ''chill-out'' tracks at the end), which is what, at times, makes it as difficult as it is compelling.