11 tracks, 36 minutes, one solid indie rock record. Those are the results of nearly two years of hard word from Jon McKiel and his bandmates. One need only hear the first track, "War On You," to figure out why. It's a simple, upbeat song not unlike a classic from Pedro the Lion that sounds worn-in, as though the band has been playing it for decades. This sturdiness follows for much of the first two-thirds of the record ("Walking With the Dead" being a particular highlight), until McKiel draws up short and gets intimate over the final few songs. A trick of sequencing, surely, but a welcome one: McKiel lets us believe he's going to end the record by breaking our heart slowly, but then puts it quickly back into place with the surprisingly electric "Fireflies." Like McKiel says in that tune, "Hold on tight."