Lead singer/songwriter Darren Jackson and friends have outdone themselves on this tour de force. Whereas So Pretty focused more on stop-start, loud/quiet rock songs that were as patient as they were dense, The West Is the Future expands the lens to include just about any direction Jackson can see from his Minneapolis perch.

Galloping opener "Pilgrim" drops the disconcerting lines, "Howdy there, pilgrim / You're not transcendental / There's nothing beyond you / There's nothing to hope for." The narrator sounds at once hardened and sympathetic to the West's myth of endless abundance - one frequently referenced in the lyrics. The epic "Homesteader" flies through moods like a bullet through balsa, with gorgeous backing vocals courtesy of Low's Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker. Low's Zak Sally also plays bass on the album, with Eric Applewick of Vicious Vicious and Olympic Hopefuls (one of Jackson's side projects) on guitar. Drummer Christopher McGuire (John Vanderslice, Quruli) couldn't be more spot-on, lending Jackson's slippery, multi-part tunes a dynamism that sets them apart from the rest of the moody indie rock pack.

Jackson's silvery voice is put to great use on "Ivan," a narrative about a conflicted Russian wanderer lost in his homeland: "I might be able to accept the God who made this world / But I can't accept the world this God made." It's clear Jackson is most comfortable with this type of subject matter, laying bare the nasty desolation and anxiety of living in the frozen Plains States. "Ten Thousand Lakes" darkly references Jackson's battle with drug addiction, which he eventually won, but not without some emotional causalities. Spooky backing vocals in the vein of a 1940's cartoon choir bolster chiming acoustic chords and gorgeous piano notes.

Faint, incidental bar sounds waft in and out of "Starlite Motel" with a graceful foreboding that approaches funereal dread. Producer Alex Oana's expertise behind the boards and Jackson's use of empty space combine for some harrowing passages. "Winterkill" alternates between lush space-rock choruses and crunchy, chord-driven verses before exploding into a '70s-tinged guitar freakout. The watery calm of "2001" crashes into epic, dirge-like bits of fuzz and synth underscored by Jackson's plaintive vocals. Terse closer "Atomic Pilgrim" reprises themes of progress-as-regression and false hope with solitary vocals and a reverb-laden guitar. Think of it as orchestral music for drums and guitar, written and performed by anonymous straight-jacketed geniuses of the frozen North. The West Is the Future is Kid Dakota's best work to date and unmistakable evidence of Jackson's galvanizing talent.