Don't ever miss this band again, okay? (12 photos)

The Sunparlour Players make music that sounds like Jackson Pollock paintings look.

It's abstract and beautiful and inspiring.

And, above all else, impassioned.

Since the Toronto-based trio's first appearance in Sault Ste. Marie in October of 2007, the Sunparlour Players have been steadily amassing a dedicated following of religious-like devotion.

And the band's legion of local devotees likely tripled last night at Loplops Gallery-Lounge as a crowd of fresh faces experienced the exaltation that is a live Sunparlour Players' performance.

Often lumped under the ever-growing and often-abused label of alt-country, the band's elements of roots, gospel, bluegrass and rock thread together poetic tales that smell of cornfields and fine whiskey, while Andrew Penner, Michael "Rosie" Rosenthal, and Dennis Van Dine beat rhythms that crescendo at exhausting heights.

Never has a band been so successful at capturing this live intensity on a studio album, as evidenced by the band's new sophomore release, Wave North.

The 13-track recording, while slightly more polished than the debut, Hymns For The Happy, remains committed to the honesty and passion that made so many fall under the Sunparlour Players' spell in the first place.

Hands down, they're one of the most "don't-you-dare-miss-this-band-if-they-come-within-driving-distance" bands that has emerged in years.

That being said, the Sunparlour Players are next scheduled to perform in Sault Ste. Marie as part of the Rotaryfest Second Stage on Saturday, July 18.

Until then, visit the band on MySpace.