The first new Everything Everything album since 2015's 'Get To Heaven' sees them embrace a plethora of musical tickboxes, from the glistening synths of chillwave and Italo to finely honed filter / drop techniques of dubstep and d&b. Obviously, these are not a fully fledged stylistic shift, more of an osmosis of current trends into a smoothly produced, and well balanced whole. 'Night Of The Long Knives' for instance flits between a soaring chorus, finely balanced with twinkling arps and pattering guitar delay, only to morph into a body-shaking bassy flick-of-a-switch crecentic wave.
'Can't Do' relies more heavily upon skittering drums and that trademark falsetto, taking things slowly into dancefloor territory, complete with stabbing synth chords, rolling bass and swirling guitar squeals. Eminently percussive, but perfectly balanced between the rhythmic backdrop and the shiny forefront.
Move a little further along, and the syncopated groove of 'Good Shot, Good Soldier' sees airy sidechained synth throbs and gated drums weaving around Higgs' unmistakeable vocal stylings, lending a minimalist ambience to the proceedings whilst keeping things moving with a staggered rhythmic backline and spine-tingling melodic turn.
It's follower, 'Run The Numbers' breaks down into a math-rock groover after an initial whimsical ambience, the sentiment echoed on 'A Fever Dream' but this time placing more importance on the beautifully introspective ambient bliss, shifting rapidly but from a propulsive rhythmic force into a beatless cosmic odyssey.
As expected, everything everything have managed to keep close the ideals of layered synth-indie whilst drawing influence from a host of corners of the musical spectrum. Brilliantly evocative, wholly imaginative and perfectly executed throughout.
STAFF COMMENTS
Barry says: Throbbing synths and skittering percussion lay down a perfect amalgamation of euphoric dancefloor synth-pop and staggering jagged indie, it's a fine line to tread, but Everything Everything make it seem easy.
TRACK LISTING
1 Night Of The Long Knives
2 Can't Do
3 Desire
4 Big Game
5 Good Shot, Good Soldier
6 Run The Numbers
7 Put Me Together
8 A Fever Dream
9 Ivory Tower
10 New Deep
11 White Whale
