It’s been about four years since the LA post-punk band’s last record, and by all accounts Matter of Choice was worth the wait (but the record here). Still Single gave the record one of the most sincere recommendations in recent memory:
But out of the seven new songs here (not counting the slow, world-crushing version of “Crowds” that closes out Matter of Choice, following an upbeat take on the A-side), not one moment feels wasted, not one second seems to be anything less than crafted to an exquisite, velveteen ideal of emotional isolation and the energy spent at the give-take of personal relationships. Every lesson a band might want to learn from Depeche Mode, or The Cure, or Jimmy Somerville, or Marc Almond, it’s all laid out here in a master thesis of how to accurately shade and enhance a form of music that thankfully few take for granted, and it’s that primary difference that makes them both faithful and revisionist, apart from other records that are covered here that favor one or the other, or neither at all.
