Critic's Choice

Out in the middle of nowhere, the horizon seems to drop away as the stars ascend and fill the heavens with a cold, blue, almost baptizing light. Grab your telescopes and get ready to hold your breath, because you'll feel the same sense of awe hearing Bear Vs. Larger Bear (appearing Monday, August 2, at the 15th Street Tavern). Despite the players' tender ages, this Denver quartet has quickly launched its airy sound into the upper registers of ambient rock and indie electronica, as evidenced on "Mixing My Arms," the group's contribution to a new local compilation called P.S.1. Sifting through the quieter, more minimal elements of acts such as the Album Leaf, Hood and even the Postal Service (minus the '80s fetish), "Mixing" heaps delicate layers of soft chords, synths, laptops and loops atop shimmering rhythms and the sleep-starved vocals of guitarist Kael Smith. But the recording, as hypnotic as it is, doesn't prepare you for the band's live performance -- a surging wash of sound that transmutes mere atmosphere into an engulfing, numbing amniosis. Besides P.S.1, Bear Vs. Larger Bear is slated to appear on a split CD with the Very Hush Hush later this summer, and Smith has recorded an EP of acoustic ethereality under the name Sun, Cancelled. The stage, though, remains Smith and crew's natural habitat. Come see them shine, soar and frolic noisily like Ursas Minor and Major chasing each other across a broad, black night sky.