Watching Chicago’s Katie & Pat, the musical fuse burning down to what is now the sparkling and energetic Halamays, was always a feast for the eyes: instruments akimbo spread in a musical smorgasbord across the stage, then at the close of each song Katie and Pat wandering about this war zone of implements and selecting their next weapon. In K&P, there was a sweetness in the understated, direct verse and lucid creativity in the arrangements, a blossoming of instrumentation, and in the Halamays, that lyricism is given a weight and fullness. It seems appropriate then that the transition songs (the tunnel between bands), two tracks under the name Zombies EP about surviving an apocalypse of the undead, comes at older K&P tracks with fresh angle and inventiveness, an evolution of the sound. This triumphant, redeeming, survivor tone carries through in the Halamays newest EP. The Halamays have added an apocryphal gravity to the soundscapes explored in Katie & Pat. In This Boring Party, Katie and Pat show off bigger drums, strummy, playful reverb drenched Telecaster licks, ripe synths and gorgeous hyper harmonic vocals that make the modern but pop-come-country lines like, “I can hear you calling/It’s probably important/but I’ll ignore you” sparkled with a personal celebrity. In this cult of personality era where clicks on personal Facebook pages are tracked and subjected to statistical analysis, it’s refreshing to hear lyrics that don’t try to paint the singer as a self-styled badass or jaded, ultra-clever wit connoisseur. Halamay’s disarming lyrics stay honest and personal without wilting, and through the windy choral harmonies, the spaces within the shining, present tones become sacred. Where K&P used computer flourishes to occasionally accentuate their sound, playing with live drums as well as programming beats and instrumental runs into their smorgasbord array, the Halamays have fully integrated modern equipment into their sound, so that the vocal effects carry a transcendence to them without obscuring the original expression or recrafting the overall sound as an effects exploration. This mastery also allows a congruity of tone that matches the glowing warmth of their keyboards, lushly blooming throughout the TBP songs. The Halamays unassuming mastery allows the songs to evolve into new shapes, like the cascading rounds at the end of “I Heard My Mobile,” with Katie singing over and over, “I don’t know what to say to you.” The variety, rich and multi-faceted tone, and instrumental nuance make these songs fun and exciting to listen to; the disarming honesty and the patient, shimmering clarity of the vox and song writing make them intriguing to listen to again and again.