The defining moment of their career? This Irish group from Cork has released fine work in the past, but only bits and pieces (hyper pop such as 1991's "Fashion Crisis Hits New York," "Smile," and "Walter's Trip"), and nothing anywhere near as good as these four songs. The maturity is fabulous in the measured, moving, pulsing playing; the eons-better, pristine yet warm production; and in the calmer tones of singer Paul Linehan, who manages to be twice as emotional and affecting with this more cooled style (the inner passion is remarkable), particularly as his lyrics now cut like 1,000 paper cuts (all little, but significant en masse). The evil hook-lined "Pathways" will floor you with its truly frank expression of apology and the agony of having to break up with someone you care about. Oh, the guilt and pain. The more jaunty "You Can't Take Too Much Notice" will likewise disarm you, and the horribly excellent "Restraint" will make you hum, purr, and gurgle in glorious repose over its tantalizing textures. And that's just the non-LP B-sides. The bad news is that though the equally catchy "Indian Ocean" leads off the grand parade, these three B-sides blow away three-fourths of the LP. How they could leave such devastating material off the album is a question for pathologists. As Wall of Voodoo sang in "Mexican Radio," "No comprende, it's a riddle!" Which means you must buy this EP first. This is what you want.