On
Versions of Us
, their follow-up to the Mercury Prize-nominated
Spook the Herd
(2020),
Lanterns on the Lake
remain loyal to textured, ringing atmospheres and a melancholic melodic sensibility while making a couple of course adjustments. First off, despite the album's material having been drawn up in the early 2020s, its lyrics are the band's most hopeful and empowering yet, in large part due to leader
Hazel Wilde
becoming a first-time mother. Secondly, and perhaps more seamlessly,
Radiohead
's
Phil Selway
not only took over on drums but helped produce
, the outfit's fifth career full-length. (Founding drummer
Ol Ketteringham
parted ways with the band after starting work on the album, prompting the group to revert to demos for a fresh start with
Selway
.) The set list opens with "The Likes of Us," an early indicator of the forward-looking tone of much of the record, as it catalogs decaying conditions with a determination to persevere ("I won't let this spark die in me"). The layered piano, strings, and eerie effects that underscore defiant vocals in the sparser opening seconds ("And all those cynics and nihilists/Couldn't stop me from feeling this") are soon joined by
's typically off-center, propulsive rhythms on the way to additional layers and a fuzzy, triumphant chorus ("You say 'luck wouldn't grace the likes of us'/But I wouldn't be so sure"). Palette-wise,
avoids uniformity without relinquishing ambience by playing with '80s keyboard timbres, among more distorted sounds, on the noir-tinged "Vatican," and by turning up the noise on the driving "String Theory," whose shimmering synths overlay intertwined, echoing guitar lines. Relatively more spacious tracks, like the yearning, social-media-afflicted "Rich Girls" ("I wish I could fake it like those rich girls do"), are also in play, offering variety as well as their fair share of guitar squalls. Taken together, the album is an engaging and rousing affair with more than enough down-to-earth awareness and poignancy to keep it grounded. ~ Marcy Donelson