Advance word on this Philly four-piece's second album was all about the shoegaze, but spending a little time with the record reveals the limitations of the term. Yes, vocals are buried and distortion is moderately high, but there's not much in the way of the oceanic-- no single moment calling for a rapturous surrender to prettified noise. On record, at least, Relay seem like a rock band that thinks about songs first and arrives at their eventual sound through a more circuitous route. Their sound is prickly and defined, where you can hear the attack on the guitar strums, and blurry overtones are seeded with bright college-rock jangle. Sometimes I hear chord patterns that remind me of the Police circa "Invisible Sun"; other places it's more like something from the Stone Roses' debut. My Bloody Valentine... not so much.