For anyone who actually got around to listening to Birds of Tokyo's This Fire EP from earlier in October 2012, follow-up album March Fires might be just about the least surprising thing you'll hear all year. It picks up right where the EP left off, a track list chalk full of those emotional and uplifting choruses backed by ambient synth beats and entrancing poppy tones. It's designed to be a ?feel-good? album, something meant to pick you up after a hard day, make you feel like you can achieve anything. A little superficial? Sure...but you can't fault the band for being a little excited after testing the waters with an EP of similar ideas that ended up being consistently impressive from start to finish. It was interesting to see how far they could stretch that idea without it getting old and an EP just didn't feel like enough. by Loeffler Industries