Fake Fruit
's self-titled debut album quickly gained a cult following, and it's easy to hear why: The band's pairing of elastic post-punk with everyday topics -- the fake personas and virtual relationships cultivated on social media, late-stage capitalism, and life's other little indignities -- was as witty as it was relatable.
may have sounded like a well-kept secret, but its enthusiastic reception led to tours with
Alvvays
,
Wet Leg
, and
Deerhoof
. Months on the road refined and ignited the band's playing, and if
Mucho Mistrust
sounds like the work of a well-seasoned outfit, that's because it is. Even more so than on their debut,
Hannah D'Amato
, guitarist
Alex Post
, and drummer
Miles MacDiarmid
put the punk back in post-punk as they respond to overwhelming situations with overwhelming sounds. On "See It That Way," a barrage of riffs, rhythms, and snarling vocals fortifies the group's fraying nerves with some serious muscle. But like the lyric from
Blondie
's "Heart of Glass" that gives
its title,
still excel at making their problems more bearable with a playful turn of phrase. In the middle of "Mucho Mistrust"'s churning exorcism of a bad relationship,
D'Amato
notes, "I am emotionally digging to the other side of the world/With only a spoon." And though her dry delivery of lines like "Hope you had a good time on your sympathy tour" on the standout "Más o Menos" calls to mind
, the racket she and the rest of the band kick up is all their own. Their playing illustrates
's wariness and disillusionment vibrantly, whether with the brittle rhythms that trace shifting emotional fault lines on "Psycho," the slippery guitars that mirror
's feelings of futility on "Well Song," or the woozy stumble of "Long Island Iced Tea"'s "cocktail of emotions." The latter song is among the more introspective moments that provide
's later highlights. These also include "Too Soon," which recalls
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
' ecstatic ballads, and "Cause of Death," a song that shows the band wears vulnerability just as well as wry disappointment. Blunt, tender, and always articulate,
finds
coming into their own. ~ Heather Phares