Ladies and gentlemen, the first great debut album of 2008 has arrived, and it arrives on fire.

"Bye Bye Bye," the first track on Plants and Animals' Parc Avenue, starts with singer-guitarist Warren C. Spicer gently asking, "What's going to happen to you?" Moments later, when the song erupts with a crash of cymbals and a choir chanting a trifecta of "bye"s as the title suggests, the answer is clear: eargasms galore.

The trio from Montreal, Canada, has a lot to live up to. Not only are they from the hotbed of Canadian indie rock, they're on the city's Secret City record label, which is churning out award winners left and right. On Parc Avenue, named after one of Montreal's major streets, Spicer, bassist Matthew Woodley, and drummer Nicolas Basque prove they belong.

The first half of the album is tres bien, dipping into various rock variants--classic, folk, experimental--that recall everything from old Queen to new Menomena. But one thing unites all the tracks--a certain sense of organic development. It wouldn't be wrong to say the album has a certain hippie quality to it--it certainly sounds outdoorsy--but it isn't just (as comedian David Cross once said) "a bunch of guys dicking around on their guitars."

The eight-minute emotional roller coaster ride "New Kind of Love" begins as a gentle, cuddly creature before transforming into a rolling, thunderous beast that rivals anything put out by Arcade Fire--a band they're often compared to.

But the standout track is "Good Friend," a sexy little number in jazz experimentation that imparts the band's insightful yet laid-back take on life. Spicer seems half advice guru and half oblivious stoner when he pairs some lesser-known nuggets of wisdom ("It takes an enemy to help you get out of bed, it takes your lover to leave you to feel the loneliness") with laissez-faire chants of "I wanna dance."

Plants and Animals may not take themselves too seriously, but listeners should. Parc Avenue is in stores now.

Audio: Click here to stream songs from Plants and Animals' debut album, Parc Avenue.