As the title hints, Montreal\u2019s post-punk scrappers present newly accommodating fronts for their third album. The harrowed angst of old hasn\u2019t been diluted, rather re-channelled with a full-blooded flexibility to reflect the multiple emotional wavelengths \u2013 from hardship to hope \u2013 of harsh times.<\/p>\n
Singer Tim Darcy is a notable beneficiary of the fresh reach: slurring his words like a drunk at sea or summoning an almost Scott Walker-ish baritone, he outstrips the David Byrne-mugged-by-Mark E Smith pitch of earlier work. His bandmates keep pace dynamically, bringing coiled control to Into The Sea and a glistening chime to album highlight Disgraced In America. Disaffectation surges by vigorously, linking vintage reference points (Wire, The Cure) to modern alt-niks (Wild Beasts, say) via bristling seams of doubt and discontent.<\/p>\n
If the lambent pulse of These 3 Things is Ought\u2019s most melodic work yet, Desire ranks among their richest, marshalling synths, sax and gospel voices into a dreamy reverie redolent of The Walkmen covering Bruce Springsteen. Momentum slips for the too-cool-for-school Take Everything, but the garage-y lurch of Pieces Wasted and slow-burn Alice offer resonant end-notes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t see where we\u2019re going,\u201d sings Darcy, his open-endedness a perfect fit for an album precision-pitched between angst and optimism, tension and release.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As the title hints, Montreal\u2019s post-punk scrappers present newly accommodating fronts for their third album. The harrowed angst of old hasn\u2019t been diluted, rather re-channelled with a full-blooded flexibility to reflect the multiple emotional wavelengths \u2013 from hardship to hope \u2013 of harsh times.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8023,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,16],"tags":[],"issue":[10093],"class_list":["post-193436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album","category-reviews","issue-january-2018"],"apple_news_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\n