With
If You Find Me Let Me Know, singer/songwriter Ryan Heise comes up with his finest song cycle to date. Giving
System and Station (the band he founded in Boise in 1998 before settling in Portland in 2001) an entirely new lineup for this six-song disc results in 35 minutes of well-conceived and tautly executed indie rock. Set adrift with the energetic "From Fiction to Truth," Heise and his coconspirators fire off melodic, alluring tunes like "Graduation Day." And by the time Heise touches on the winter-equals-death analogy for "In January" and the sadly beautiful "Coasts Shore,"
System and Station's ability to execute imaginitively structured tracks can't help but make one wonder why they haven't had more attention cast their way. Bowing out with the somber title track, Heise, guitarist Palmer Cloud, and rhythm masters Josh Vasby and Bryan Fairfield put the finishing touches on a first-rate EP. ~ John D. Luerssen