This British psych-pop duo's third full length release was recorded in Switzerland, in the family home of long-time friend and collaborator Misha Hering. The change of scene seems to have been a rejuvenating experience
The "glacial deadpan" of Alice Merida Richards' voice is still present but there's a newfound warmth and clarity too. The austere tone of previous records has therefore given way to a more relaxed mood.
The lyrics are peppered with rhetorical questions but the singer does not seem unduly stressed that the answers are not immediately forthcoming. "Am I always in the wrong?" Richards asks herself in The Female Genius, one of several tracks that touches upon gender politics although never in a tub-thumping manner.
Relativity is all about remaining curious and open ("I want to know where it ends and begins every cycle")
Musical partner Sam Pillay supplies catchy synth backing and supervises some well-judged percussive loops and sax interludes.
Everything comes together blissfully for Eight Hours Don't Make A Day in which lines like "Went to work in the morning I returned in the evening, empty" tell of a deadening routine but nevertheless communicates a resolution to live in the moment and remain optimistic.
The affirmative philosophy is summed up best in Pale Burnt Lake with the resolution "To begin again like nothing came before"
