STRUCTURE | VINYL RECORD (LP)

Delighting in contradiction, Structure is an ambitious LP that approaches it's own impressive scope and aspiration with a tongue-in-cheek humor and a reflexive self-effacement that wonderfully reflects the personalities of it's creators. Influenced by Scott Walker's sole 80s release, Climate of Hunter and the works of the colorfield painter Mark Rothko, it's a concept album that pokes fun of the idea of concept albums, exploring high-minded ideas while subverting them and applying a hyper-focused eye for detail in the service of a series of clever misdirections. Tracks like opening single "Quotations" see the band at their freewheeling best, drawing from the persistent and building rhythms of the dance music tradition that has long been one of the many elements of their sound, to construct a mesmerizing forest of sounds out of repeating vocal samples, swooping synth lines and eventually cascading break beats. At the other end of the album's auditory spectrum, "When You're Around" is an almost-saccharine nod at the band's more pop-oriented work to date. When taken together Structure paints a picture too vast to be taken in at once, but repeated listens reveal melodic subtleties, rhythmic minutiae, and lyrical repetition that allow the whole to come into focus. Whether the lasting impression is concrete or abstract will depend on the listener's perspective, but from any vantage point Structure is a thrillingly original release and a first-class achievement in brutalist pop