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Texis
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Barnes and Noble
Texis
Current price: $29.99
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While making their fifth album,
'
and
decided not to worry about reinventing their particular wheel. Though they pushed their sound forward with impressive results on 2016's
, on
they're content to play with the contrasts that made their music so exciting when they burst onto the scene with 2010's
. Compared to that album and
,
is radically simple. Its shifts are quicker, its dynamics more polarized, and the duo uses just a handful of elements to maximum impact. On "Sweet75," chugging and squealing guitars, sugary synths, and
' pop star harmonies represent
' puree of genres at its purest, even though the refrain "Aren't you a little too old for rock 'n' roll?" feels like an acknowledgement that they don't have the shock of the new on their side anymore. Though
don't rehash
' sound,
taps into that era's exuberant energy. When
sings "I feel like dynamite!" over plunging surf guitars on "Locust Laced," she expresses how
have always blurred the boundaries between euphoria and explosions, while "Tennessee Tips" harks back to the heyday of anything-goes blog bands with grungy synth pop. A pared-down version of
is still highly volatile, and
offers plenty of reminders of just how weird -- and often weirdly brilliant -- their music can be. The cheerleader metal of "Justine Go Genesis" is a prime example, as is the trail of destruction left by "Red Flag Flies" or the way neatly stacked vocal layers are razed by wrecking ball riffs on "Hummingbird Bomb." Amidst
' chaos, there are still some glimpses of
's emotional depth on "True Seekers" and "I'm Not Down," a power ballad with a beat that splits the difference between IDM glitches and rapid-fire metal double kick drums. Not so much a retreat as a celebration of what
do best,
' finest moments thrive on the razor's edge between sweetness and annihilation. ~ Heather Phares