Among new millennial '90s alt-rock revivalists, are distinguished by their elegantly sculpted melodicism and their eagerness to smooth their scuzz-rock -- equal parts and classic -- to make their rock palatable to the masses. The two characteristics go hand and hand -- good melodies always beg for proper presentation -- and 's predilection for polish isn't without precedent: producer was many things but raw was not one of them. To their considerable credit, don't sound stuck in any one of their possible pasts on 2013's , their third album and their most assured LP to date. Influences and heroes can be heard -- the , sure, but also on the tightly wound "Take It or Leave It," (whose guests on "It's Just Forever") -- but aren't recycling, they're synthesizing, mashing big, and swinging jagged guitars with candied melodies, furious rhythms, a slight hint of soul, and an echo of new wave. is a thoroughly modern rock record, where all the past is alive in the present, so if you've ever had affection for any alt-rock sound from the '80s through the 2000s, it's hard not to find something to enjoy here. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine