Sometimes, it feels like I discovered Gates completely on accident.

I had never heard of them when I saw that they were touring with Thrice and La Dispute, two bands I love that sound absolutely nothing like Gates. I was intrigued by Wikipedia’s description of them as a post rock band, but that description clashed with the first few seconds of Parallel Lives, and it took a few other people clamoring about the record for me to revisit it in earnest.

Once I was enraptured by it, I took to searching for anything that gave me the same heart-rending mixture of indie, emo, and, yes, post rock. Their debut record, Bloom & Breathe was fine enough, but it felt far more like a Moving Mountains tribute than the band that would give me one of my favorite records of the last ten years.

So when Here and Now was released, it was one of the fastest instant-buys I can remember. And that paid off. These six songs don’t just satisfy the craving for more music like Parallel Lives—they exceed it.

Here and Now uses much of the same formula as Parallel Lives, but dismissing it as a retread woefully ignores just how fertile that mixture is for great music. Vocalist Kevin Dye’s talent for earworms is just as present, especially on “We Are,” featuring his crystal clear falsetto in its irresistible chorus. “Where To Begin” could go toe to toe with any of the catchier songs on Parallel Lives without anyone betting against it.

The band also flexes their instrumental chops far more than they did on the previous full length. This is most clearly demonstrated by the two instrumental tracks (“Lie in Wait” is especially spellbinding), but it permeates every song. The band takes full advantage of its trio of guitarists, one or two of them meandering through ambient pathways, sometimes more experimenting with their effects pedals than playing the parts. And as always, Daniel Crapanzano pushes the rhythm with inventive, kinetic drum parts.

The standout here is “Pretending,” a six-minute epic that manages to marry the conventions of post rock with stunning pop sensibilities. It is equal parts experimental and catchy, without detracting from either. However, that union is hardly relegated to that track alone: that thread runs through the entire disc.

And while this is “just” an EP, it carries its twenty-six minutes with the structure and ambition of a full length. But if this is any indication of what Gates has in store for the future, I’ll probably preorder the next release without hearing it too.