I was not expecting this Texas-based project's sophomore album to sound like "Daydream Nation" being covered by Ride. Ample synths and electronics abound, but this still has an organic feel, like you are sitting in on their band practice. There is a great guitar tone. "Streetwear" finds the bass line digging in a little more, and more of a post-rock drive carrying the song forward while the guitar and hushed vocals provide the atmosphere. By the time it gets to "Intuition," there is a uniform haze that they are working out dancey grooves to that rolls over the songs.
What changes on "Candy" is that the guitar and drumming get more deliberate in a rock-like manner, despite the single-note guitar melodies that trickle like running water over the cracks in the backbone being laid down. I would not call this darker, but it does have the tension of underlying melancholy to it. Tobias Grave of Soft Kill lends his voice to "Everything Changed". The main vocal melody might be the strongest yet, and Grave just comes in with a lower harmony. This creates an almost Jesus and Mary Chain vibe.
There is even more of a punk energy to "Bubblegum Machine" finding the drums becoming more energized. The guitar plays into this more aggressively. This also means the songwriting is less hooky and more simplistic. "Gloss" moves to the dance floor with its electronic heartbeat. The vocals croon from under a blanket of effects. It is starker in tone than what I think of as dream pop. "Something New " fits the bill but also floats more like a cloud rather than having much meat to sink your ears into. There is more to "Finally Bare", but the vocals are kinda boring. The album ends with a drone that does go somewhere dynamically and shows more of an attempt to care about songwriting, but by the end, for an album to start off so strong, I think these guys mesmerize you with this sound they have captured, but once that wears off it defaults back to my sound vs songs complaint that seems common with many acts these days. I will give this album an 8, 5, which is due to the fact when they are dialed in this one is pretty cool, or it can drift off into a daydream.
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