Minimal, psychedelic art pop. Female vocals. Noisy, mysterious, and very pretty. Some songs all electronic, some synth-poppy, some Krautrock. Third album by this unique Birmingham, UK band led by songwriter/vocalist Trish Keenan. Broadcast are gifted with a transcendent talent for creating new sounds and new musical structures. More electronics this time as the band is down to just two, Keenan and multi-instrumentalist James Cargill (but two former bandmates guest). Intense and riveting from the start, informed by lyrics drawn from Keenan’s own automatic writing with a self-professed theme of “letting go.” She says, “I have been telling myself to ‘let go’ for years. So much so that I am claiming ownership of [those words]. They are going to be my reminders to let go. Perhaps my epitaph.” Some reviewers liken Broadcast to Stereolab, which I find dumb. A few of the songs here are very surprising in their simplicity... but those songs still grow on you. Musically stunning. FCC clean. All songs fantastic. Start with 2, 4, 6, 13.

1. Noisy, dreamy, mysterious. Spoken and sung vocals. Repeating, descending synth motif throughout. Of all the tracks, the one most like their previous work... but still fresh and new... and the one with the most structural parts to it.
==> 2. Starts with synth. Melodic pop with bizarre sounds and weird changes. “Awkwardness happening to someone you love.” Keenan writes, “It is, I think, the Fortean Times song of the LP. The black cat is a metaphor for psychological hang ups, the thought processes that make us act oddly when we are disturbed by our conscience.”
3. Psychedelic, minimal noise rock. Spoken vocals. Starts with repeated guitar notes, then repeated bass figure. They duo for a while, then extended synth chord comes in. Rather Faustian (as in the band).
==> 4. Lovely noise, lilting melody, and a bouncy beat. Keenan writes, “The lyrics... were generated by my reactions to tabloid cryptic cross-word. The clues were topically about the war in Irag, and in general, their stance was one of anti-American occupation.”
5. Slow lullaby. Slowly strummed guitar and dreamy synth.
==> 6. Dark synth pop. Sleepy vocals about/around anatomy and autonomy.
7. Simple, repetitive instrumental. Electronics and bass. Arpeggios but no melody.
8. Slow, sparse introspective ballad. Magical feel. “Can I see more than I’m programmed to be?”
9. Simple synth pop with repetitive lyrics. More like Freezepop or Ladytron than Broadcast. But then there’s that bizarre key change and those slightly-odd timings....
10. Slow & sleepy. Noisy synth, elementary guitar, and multi-tracked dreamy vocals. Minimal arrangement and structure.
11. Instrumental. Quirkily rhythmic solo synth. Less than a minute.
12. Sort of a Beach Boys melody with sort of a minimal Ladytron accompaniment. Keenan writes, “The two words [that compose the song title] made me think of prostitutes. That you never say hello to them, meaning that you never get to know them. There are one or two prostitutes in my family. It’s not hard to talk about it, but I feel protective.”
==> 13. A nursery lullaby. All electronics and voice. Dreamy and beautiful.
14. Instrumental. Repeating, heavily reverbed, descending synth motif, the same one that started the album. Fades.