Bury the Cynics the first full-length from Austin-based the Lovely Sparrows is either indie pop music for people who'd rather listen to a country album, or alt country for people who'd rather listen to a pop album. The record is at turns haunting and hopeful, managing to make refrains like "You be the bayonet, I'll be the rope" sound less menacing than they should -- hints more of John Darnielle than Nick Cave.

Lead singer Shawn Jones's voice calls to mind bits of Neutral Milk Hotel, and the occasionally eerie timbre adds richness to the sound. The instrumentation varies markedly track to track. Tender piano, stirring strings, organ, percussion, and electric guitar filter in and out of individual pieces; the flute, an instrument always at risk of slipping into sloppy sentiment, is used to particularly good effect.

A few of the songs drag a bit ("Department of Foreseeable Outcomes" is a particular disappointment, given its enticing title), but many are charming. The folksy vocal harmonies of "Teenage Viking" soar over relatively simple instrumentation. "Year of the Dog," one of the more pop-fueled tracks on the record should inspire a good bit of toe tapping, as should "Devil in the Details," perhaps the most radio ready song. However, even the relatively buoyant tracks are far from uncomplicated.

Throughout, the tracks flirt with the strange and surreal, with myth and misery. Folk wisdom and folk songs are folded neatly into contemporary cultural idioms, into songs that linger in the mind long after they've been listened. Overall, the album has the tone of a familiar but frightening fairytale; Snow White, perhaps, read over and over again until the witch no longer seems so terrifying, the dwarfs seem perfectly normal.