The Kids Aren’t Alright . . . They’re Amazing

Starsailor
Love Is Here(Capitol)
“Silence Is Easy” single (import)

Forget Coldplay and the piano bench that guy rode in on: The only one of the New Sensitive Brits worth yer bent ear is this band. James Walsh has a set of pipes that doesn’t come along that often, and his band is capable. Think fey Tim Buckley folk-rock that leans into soul, marches and anthems. Skip the debut album and head straight to the brand-new “Silence Is Easy”: This is probably the last time we’ll ever hear Phil Spector working with a worthy artist, and it’s a staggering, magnificent gift of goose-bump-inducing Wall of Sound beauty.

Whirlwind Heat
Do Rabbits Wonder?(Third Man/V2)

Contortions-like art-spaz trio, a taste that’s rarely acquired by the masses, but totally dug hard by those who do. Like Jack White — who produced this record.

—J.B