Love What Survives [LP]

With their old-school analog aesthetic and minimalist post-dub sound, Britain's straddle the line between atmospheric art music and pop accessibility. It's a balancing act they've been honing since debuting with 2010's , and one they continue to perfect on 2017's . Once again centered on the production talents of members and , is a moody album, full of pulsing grayscale soundscapes. It's a fitting tone for a band who seem to garner creative inspiration not from what they add to their sound, but from what they strip away. As evidence of that stripping, the album features a prominent mix of instrumentals as well as tracks featuring vocals; though it is fairly evenly balanced. In fact, it's that deft combination of both instrumental and vocal tracks that makes such a successful album, moving the listener through what almost feels like a cinematic experience. Setting the tone for that imagined film is the eerie instrumental opener "Four Years and One Day." A swirling strobe light of a song, full of oscillating synths that give way to a menacing post-punk bass riff, it emanates toward you like an alien spacecraft through dense fog. Smartly, quickly contrast that track's slowly descending chill with a guest appearance by , who applies his deadpan South London-accented rap and yawp to the buzzy post-punk of "Blue Train Lines." From there, they keep the evocative aural images tumbling with the prismatic, lo-fi chug of "You Look Certain (I'm Not So Sure)" featuring singer , and the wave-like "Marilyn," in which they frame 's with a buoyant bassline and what sounds like a dreamlike Kora figure. Having long drawn easy comparisons to , it makes perfect sense that they bring the electronic star on board here, showcasing his soulful croon on the church organ-steeped "We Go Home Together" and the fractured album-closer "How We Got By." Elsewhere, they conjure memories of -era on the instrumental "Audition," and shift away from the album's tightly wound claustrophobia for the airy, acoustic, piano-based impressionism of "Poison." Ultimately, strip away any musical excess on , and leave raw vivid emotion. ~ Matt Collar