The Santiago Steps find a lot of these moments of grace, dusty diamonds they find in the suburban rain gutters, and they're sufficiently socially maladapted to be curious enough to reach down and pick them out. "Parrots in Orange Trees" is in its entirety a paean to one of those moments, a refutation of bad vibes, brought on by a randomly plucked citrus fruit. The Santiago Steps are smart to know these moments don't last (nor do they think they're universally accessible, as the creepy downer track "Two of Me" goes to show), but also smart to know to treasure them for what they are. Even in a plastic paradise, you can be genuinely happy, from time to time.

A-flutter, as an album, is kind of a messy composition — aside these moments of grace are a few too many aimless tracks (two versions of the pointless instrumental "Diorama," plus the ska-soaked jam "So. Street Riot," which sounds like a Plimsouls soundcheck with a random saxophonist that stepped off the street). And production-wise, the album's a bit sloppy and unrehearsed, as if the band could only pay for one run-through per song.

But here's a thought from the wistful and surprisingly beautiful album closer "Wake": "There are prices you can learn to love to pay." For a certain class of suburbanites, current or former (and for all geeks), A-flutter is going to wake up parts of your brain you thought you'd shut down for good. That's worth a certain percentage of filler. There's also the fact that on CDBaby, the album's currently selling for $5. Interesting at twice the price, A-flutter's a steal for this amount.

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The Santiago Steps: A-Flutter
Santiago Steps Website | Buy on CDBaby.com

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This review originally appeared on IndieCrit.com -- Independent Reviews of Independent Music