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If you were forced to guess what a band sounds like based solely upon the bands theyve toured with, but without actually having heard themas were all forced to at one time or anotheryoud be pinning the tail on the proverbial donkey with The Life and Times. Seemingly odd tour pairings with bands like the Johnny-Cash-flavored Murder By Death, indie folkster William Elliot Whitmore, ultra-heavy sonic juggernauts Pelican, Japanese atmospherists Mono and the urgent rockists Sparta and Engine Down have all made for smart mixed bills and paid dividends in many new fans for them.Live, the bright light and intense heat put off by the three lights The Life and Times bring on tour with them have not only given each of them exquisite tans on one arm, they provide a visual representation of what is happening on stage. As the blinding white lights bounce off their guitars and cymbals and around the room, the resulting lights and shadows are apt metaphors for the sound of three people creating mountains of sound and blissful mood.Allen Epley (gtr/vocs), Eric Abert (bass/moog) and Chris Metcalf (drums/cymbals) haveadded to the disrepair of interstates across the US throughout the 90s as members ofShiner, Ring Cicada and Stella Link, respectively, and have seen fads and styles fade atabout the same rate as cheap jeans. The Magician EP (Stiff Slack), their fourth overallrelease, is a fad-free snapshot of a band thats constantly morphing from a dragon, to a butterfly, to blinding white light, to a bird, to Godzilla, and back again, often within the space of just one song.Writing recently for The Magician, the band couldnt help but notice the ease with which each song was crafted. The obvious difference between these songs and those found on their critically well-received debut CD Suburban Hymns (DeSoto) in 2005 was that they had found their M.O., their raison detre, or whatever you want to call it, and it has produced a streamlined style that is also constantly, but effortlessly evolv