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Rating: They tried in every way possible.
First and foremost by choosing a rather horrible cover. Then almost completely removing that rough garage patina that covered the previous “Derdang Derdang”, in favor of much more compressed sounds, almost winking at a certain 80’s post-punk revival (the best ones, mind you), up to extracting a single, Shark’s Tooth which exemplifies the extreme choice, an intersection (unthinkable 4 years ago) between Gang of Four/New Order rhythms, a guitar forcibly taken from the latter-day Cure, and the usual post-David Byrne vocals. Nothing new, in fact quite a shift towards where today’s “alternative” wind is blowing, i.e., the aforementioned 80s.
Even trying, however, they didn’t make it. I mean convincing me about them. Because at the end of the ride, and after several listens, the album flows beautifully, even with the huge difference in sounds compared to the previous one (but the choice of Tim Goldsworthy of DFA behind the mixer couldn’t lead to anything else). Nothing groundbreaking, and with even a couple of pitfalls (“Run Gospel Choir” leaves you fairly indifferent, in “Chunk” they almost seem like those bastards of the latest Yeasayer, fake plastic sounds that I would abolish), but there are enough highlights, especially when the three guys embark on steep psychowave paths, interesting and previously little explored, as in the opening “Magnetic Warrior”, hypnotic in its tribal nature, and in “You Have A Right To A Mountain”, a wild excursion on the back of a dromedary, together with the Master Musicians of Jajouka, from Algiers to Essauira. Reeds, strings, and percussion competing for over 4 minutes.
They are in search of a sonic identity, but given the multitude of bands that after a decent album become fossilized in their own patterns, I’d say there's little to complain about.
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