Ex-Vöid
In Love Again
Tapete Records
Oh, to be In Love Again, like Ex-Vöid. Carrying on their torrid affair with gloriously buzzy, jangly indie pop, Lan McArdle and Owen Williams take their punk-rock relationship to another level on their sophomore LP, the former Joanna Gruesome teenage twosome — with bassist Laurie Foster and drummer George Rothman in tow — experiencing giddy romantic hope and devastating heartbreak in a charm offensive of pretty power-pop persuasion.
Some of their old friends may not approve, as Ex-Vöid sweeps elements of its DIY/hardcore past under the rug, preferring to perfect their fetching songcraft and delicately brushed vocal harmonies and not drown it all in blazing riot. Light dissonance crinkles the edges of In Love Again, a sign that Ex-Vöid hasn’t completely abandoned its noisy impulses, but after the wrenched, screeching intro to the deliriously catchy “Swansea,” they open the floodgates to a deluge of clutching hooks, blown-out guitar crunch and flowing melodies that washes up on the doorsteps of The Beths, Throwing Muses, and Bettie Serveert.
Trading in the title track’s crashing optimism and the upbeat swing of “July” for the crestfallen melancholy of “Nightmare,” a Jay Som-like rush of wounded recrimination, and the irresistible Lemonheads-inspired blast of earnest entreaty “Strange Insinuation,” Ex-Vöid willingly cuts favorable sonic deals throughout In Love Again. In response to the tight, cascading “Down the Drain,” they close the album with the quiet, folky swoon “Outline,” where McArdle’s expressive singing takes flight and gently cradles its affecting lyrics before going down in a storm. To answer the swerving, shoegazing wash and roar of “Pinhead,” they shake Lucinda Williams’ “Lonely Girls” awake with the kind of massive, stomping, radiant chorus and lovely sway that it deserves. Take earworms off the endangered species list. They’re crawling all over In Love Again.
