When the Stills released their debut album, 2003's Logic Will Break Your Heart, the Montreal quintet was quickly pegged by some as the Candian Strokes. Whether that was a good or bad thing — compliment or snide dismissal — of course depended on one's opinion of both the Stills and their supposed American counterparts, but the brand wasn't entirely unwarrented. The Stills certainly seemed to wear their New York City indie-band influences (a result of a short spell living in the Big Apple) on their sleeves, not to mention the fact that the band members all boasted skinny frames and lofty, model-esque cheekbones. But the second time around, Stills frontman Tim Fletcher, guitartist Dave Hamelin, keyboardist Liam O'Neil, bassist Oliver Corbeil and durmmer Julien Blais served notice that they weren't about to be judged by their pretty faces or mistaken for anyone on the current rock scene but themselves. The Still's sophomore effort, this year's superior Without Feathers, reveals what AllMusic.com calls a complete reinvention for the Montreal quartet, with mnost all traces of neo-New Wave replaced witha decidedly organic, gritty approach closer in spirit to early '70s Elton John, the Kinks and David Bowie.