On and , 's fusion of lo-fi, post-punk, and shoegaze was so mercurial that those albums often felt like compilations. On , the London trio shakes things up by taking a more cohesive approach. In a number of ways, it's a stronger, clearer voice that , and bring to their third full-length and debut. Songs like 's "Rage Quit" were tantalizing in part because they were so short, but as on the band's excellent 2022 singles, shows how ably can sustain a mood and add some polish to it. "Nurse!" is the perfect calling card for the group, building from slinky, looping verses to grinding, distortion-laden choruses as take turns singing about obsessively chasing a feeling with deceptive detachment. Though is slightly more poised than 's other albums, the spontaneous way its songs come together and fall apart keeps the appealing looseness that connects the band to the , and former signees . Over the course of the album, evoke other forebears: The dreamy brooding of "changer" echoes the glimpses of heartache on 's . On "F.O.B.," yelped sentiments like "you only love me when I'm not around" call to mind . The longstanding comparisons to still ring true on songs such as "yes i have eaten so many lemons yes i am so bitte," but despite the similarly brittle melody and the resemblance 's voice bears to 's frayed, wispy instrument, the portrait of domestic trauma that paint ("A million times I hear you crying/Covering your ears while they fight") is far grittier than the elder band's work. It's one of many moments where 's clearer sonics and songwriting let them put their own stamp on classic outsider melancholy. "Horsey Girl Rider" and "punkt" are ready to soundtrack dark nights of the soul; when sighs "When I'm alone/The world falls back into place" on "Missus Morality," it feels all too relatable. As much as they unify their sound on the album, the band also stretch out on its bookends, with the beguiling piano pop of "guard" and "maddington"'s loping rhythms and blossoming strings delivering two of the prettiest and most promising highlights. At once intricate and tossed-off, passionate and aloof, 's seeming contradictions and haunting mood elevate amongst their post-punk-reviving peers. It's an album that's complex enough for fans of the band's previous work, and just welcoming enough for a wider audience. ~ Heather Phares