The fourth full-length album from
the Naked and Famous
, 2020's
Recover
is an ebullient production that finds the Los Angeles-based, New Zealand-bred group emerging from a period of creative transition. Prior to recording
, the band parted ways with longtime members keyboardist
Aaron Short
and drummer
Jesse Wood
. While amicable, the change left the main songwriting duo of
Alisa Xayalith
and
Thom Powers
to decide how to move forward. It was a moment of self-reflection that somewhat mirrored the duo's own romantic split just before the recording of 2016's
Simple Forms
. Even still, it seems they found rejuvenation in joining forces with keyboardist and multi-instrumentalist
Luna Shadows
, as well as
Powers
' childhood friend and co-producer
Simon Oscroft
. Together, as on the sessions for
, they began working on material at
Xayalith
's Silver Lake home. The result is a buoyant and deeply felt album that finds the band continuing to hone their shimmering, synth-based sound. There's an underlying theme of loss and healing running through all of
. However, rather than lingering on what has been lost,
focus on finding a path forward. On "Recover," a song drawn from
's experience losing her mother to breast cancer when she was seven years old, they sing, "I can't replace the loss of my mother. I can't erase the loss from my father. I can't replace the loss with another, but I can regain myself and recover." The song, as with much of
, captures the energy of someone who has cried all night and finally feels a peaceful catharsis rising with the sun. Musically, there's an ecstatic warmth to the album as keyboards swirl alongside ringing electric guitars, and real and programmed beats push the duo's harmonies skyward. Equally potent sentiments pop up elsewhere, as on "Bury Us," in which
celebrates how intense romantic passion can sometimes threaten to crush you, her voice piercing a wall of bass-heavy keyboards and crystalline guitars. Conversely, on the midtempo ballad "Come as You Are," they sing about how everyone desires to be accepted for who they are, filtering their voices through a kaleidoscope of morphing effects that make them sound like a chorus of different singers, underlining the song's broad relatability. Rife with beautifully intuitive pathos,
is the sound of
turning feelings of heartbreak and desire into powerfully relatable pop moments. ~ Matt Collar