After a breakthrough 2009 that saw them earn comparisons to The Arcade Fire and Neutral Milk Hotel, capture SXSW buzz playing on a bill with Grizzly Bear, sell out a tour, sign to Saddle Creek, and score a 'Breaking Out' feature in SPIN, The Rural Alberta Advantage are poised to explode in 2011 with Departing.

With The Rural Alberta Advantage's new album, the band further refines the exuberant guitar work; everything-on-the-table singing; songwriting full of conviction and detail; and majestic, keyboard-sprinkled arrangements that have won it so many fans. Departing strings together themes of small towns, Canadian fall and winter, breakup, and redemption and serves as a companion piece to their beloved debut album Hometowns. About their debut, Pitchfork Media gave it an 8.0, raving that 'songs this good deserve to be heard by audiences as large as their sonic scope.'