Members: Jay Hurley, Robert Robello, Dave West (11), Mykl Westbrooks

Great bands do more than make you move your feet and hips - they take you to a different place and time, making you see and hear things you never before imagined. Landing Gear is such a band, a group of pop contortionists whose main aim is to unfurl a newfangled and gorgeous array of pop hooks and melodies that transport listeners to a previously unheard poptopia.

Formed in Minneapolis, Landing Gear has caused television waves to ripple nationwide with the inclusion of their single "Atmosphere" on the WB Network show Roswell. The lead-off track to the band's 2000 self-titled EP, "Atmosphere" is a blissful ode to the simplicity of drifting away. With melodies that float and waft like low-hanging, bilious clouds, the song moves even further into the stratosphere with frontman Jay Hurley's caressing vocals. "Atmosphere" may be the product of an American band, but its colorful hues and majestic melodies make it sound as if it were penned by one of Britain's bright boys of pop.

The rest of the EP is bolstered by the astute skills of guitarist Mykl Westbrooks, bassist Robert Robello and drummer Dave West, who take their collective experience as rock, punk and pop players to comprise the unique sound that is Landing Gear. Moving with ease between the dizzying, soft-touch psychedelia of "Space Needle" to the pleading lustfulness of "Recovery" and the propulsive momentum that builds behind "You Disappear," Landing Gear taps into a seemingly endless stream of pop songs. Tagged by the Minneapolis Star Tribune as one of the area's bands climbing the stairway to stardom, Landing Gear is working on its full-length debut. The group is also currently performing live and has wooed more than one starry-eyed fan over to their corner of the universe.