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From the new album "Dazzled by the Grace," now available for download at iTunes, Amazon, CDBaby and everywhere digital music is sold. Visit us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/The-Vanishing-Spies/124832800964046.

"This is smart, literate power pop from Minnesota indie scene veterans. Clearly, these folks know their city's musical history well enough to bring the so-called Minneapolis sound to the next level. The band's Mould/Hart/Westerberg-inspired penchant for melodic hooks, driving rock beats, and strong song structures allows them to lay claim to heir to its legacy with ease."
The Big Takeover

"Damn if the songs aren't super catchy!"
Indie Pages

The Vanishing Spies are sorry to acknowledge that they are the Indie Rock Harbingers of Doom. Now, there is good reason for this assessment of their place in the world. When the duo was working on their first album, 2001's "Mystifying Alibis," an up-and-coming evil mastermind named Osama Bin Laden convinced a few of his pals to fly some commercial airlines into some buildings. Pretty grim stuff. Then, when the band decided to emerge from their underground bunker to commence work on their second album, 2006's "The Long Emergency," our country was embroiled in costly wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Again, not fun. And what happened early on in the recording of the Spies' third album, 2011's "Dazzled by the Grace"? Japan was nailed by a tsunami, which in turn caused a nuclear disaster. Yikes.

Despite multiple and clear signs that any new Spies release could inadvertently usher in the Apocalypse, Sean McNamee and Eric Zuccola decided to soldier on and release their brand new opus. One thing that is immediately clear from the album's title, "Dazzled by the Grace", is that a decade of dodgy mojo has not diminished the band's optimism that things in the world can be better; if not politically, economically or environmentally, then at least artistically. The result of this outlook is what may well be the sunniest and most appealing Vanishing Spies album to date.

On the musical side, The Vanishing Spies continue to refine a sound that pulls together the threads of '60s gods like The Beatles and The Velvet Underground, '70s acts like Elvis Costello and Wire, '80s heroes like R.E.M. and The Pixies, '90 groups like Guided By Voices and Teenage Fanclub, and '00s upstarts like The Strokes and Arcade Fire. While the sound of these touchstone bands is certainly embedded into the sonic DNA of The Vanishing Spies, Sean McNamee's musicianship and production transforms those starting points into something contemporary and unique. From the infectious jangle of album opener "Act 13" to the aggressive riffage of "Montreal" to the psychedelic rumble of "Permanent Yesterday," the Spies' new album is the group's most musically ambitious and diverse, yet it also manages to achieve a unified sound. Despite the group's many influences, the Spies always end up sounding like the Spies, and that is a good thing.

With McNamee hitting new heights on the music front, band member Eric Zuccola has pushed himself into new territory on the songwriting side. Now, it is no secret that Zuccola is known for reveling in literary lyrics. In fact, one reviewer once described him as a "smartypants." While the lyrics on Dazzled by the Grace are no less "smartypants" than they have been on the band's previous albums, they are also more straightforward, with Zuccola heading in a more intimate, narrative direction than he has in the past. The protagonists of the songs on the new album are each at a critical juncture that demands they make a decision, whether it is the solitary hipster of thundering first single "The Impossible Boy," the aging romantic of "Safety Pins," or the compromising suburbanite of "Who Do You Think You Are?" What allows Zuccola to get away with the self-conscious leanings of his songs is his ability to craft instantly memorable melodies. After just one listen, we guarantee that you will be singing lines like, "There was a Marxist who would not finalize his Ph.D. His adjunct slot seemed much less bourgeoisie," with a huge smile on your face. Smartypants? Sure. Catchy as heck? Totally.

Ultimately, the band knows it is putting the world at risk by releasing "Dazzled by the Grace". However, if the End of Days is really upon us, at least we have 14 perfect Vanishing Spies songs to put on the hi-fi as the ship is going down. Now, if you will excuse them, McNamee and Zuccola really need to return to their underground bunker to start working on their fourth album so it is ready for release in 2012. Why next year, you might ask? Just ask the Mayans and their blasted doomsday calendar.