The right combination of pressure and heat can turn coal into a diamond. An equally intense fusion of raw vocal energy, bipolar instrumental dynamics, and literary-poetical muse has improbably yielded Chicago’s newest underground gem: Great Gray Buildings. A shouting match between the keyboard slams of frontman Kevin Whelan (The Pipes, Bransen) and guitarwork of Daniel Hawthorne (The HT Renegades), is chopped to firewood by the clockwork percussion of Matt Tanaka (HKHC) — then lovingly stacked and set ablaze by the trio’s warm and earnest vocal harmonies. But a bonfire howl-at-the-moon this is not. Rooted in the hooks and swap-patterns of modern rock, Great Gray Buildings wanders and experiments without straying from the logic of their pop-oriented predecessors. If they do strike you on the one cheek, you can expect a kiss on the other — which is to say it’s worth the listen. -IndieMonday.com