When it came time to record their fifth album, the breakup-themed
a beautiful blur
,
LANY
-- now slimmed to the duo of
Paul Jason Klein
and
Jake Clifford Goss
-- reunited with producer
Mike Crossey
from the similarly inspired
Malibu Nights
(2018). Full of brooding rumination and heartbreak, it includes such unapologetic tracks as "Home Is Where the Hurt Is" and the bitter and boisterous (and sarcastic) "Congrats" ("Got your way, so celebrate"). Among the sadder, more reflective fare is "Alonica," in which
Klein
falls out of love with Los Angeles in the relationship's wake, and the spare and brittle "(Saturday Night) 3:22 A.M.," which nonetheless picks up pulsing club beats by the midway point. The album became
's fifth straight to enter the Billboard 200 and marked their debut in Australia's Top 40, where it went all the way to number four. ~ Marcy Donelson