About

What Now is the sound of a band truly fulfilling the potential and promise of their debut. Everything has evolved – the production is bolder, the vocals are more intense, the melodies are more irresistible, and the songs shine that much brighter. However, it is also a record that was made in 2016 – which means it is inherently grappling with the chaos of a country coming undone, the voices of two people nestled in studios around the country who were bemused by what they looked out and saw. It’s an album that is both political and personal, and blurs the line between the two – What Now describes the inevitable low that comes after every high, fulfilment tempered by the knowledge that there is no clearly defined conclusion. It’s a record about falling in love and learning that it won’t save you; about the over sharing of information and the fine line between self-awareness and narcissism; about meeting one’s own personal successes but feeling the fizzling embers of the afterglow rather than the roar of achievement; about the crushing realisation that no progress can ever feel permanent. It is an album that finds its strength in its own duality. But at its core, What Now is an album of the finest songs this band has ever written – produced masterfully, sang fearlessly – to articulate our collective undercurrents of anxiety and joy. – Press release

“[What Now] scrutinizes more familiar pop imagery with a self-aware twist. Meath coos about birds chirping in the trees, but their songs are as clanging and mechanical as car alarms (“Signal”); dancers whirl to mask their desperation, sweat drenching their sequins (“Kick Jump Twist”). Sanborn’s production is so boisterous, he hardly relaxes inside his beats. They bounce along with eccentric found sounds and Moog tics, occasionally evoking the sense of an errant tab opened somewhere on a browser. At moments, it seems like a defense of their oft-maligned genre, a fun rebuke of the stereotype that pop music is shallow. Their acerbic pop is both a product of the FM-friendly formula and a wry subversion of it.” – Pitchfork

“The hooks are bigger and more refined; the sound is direct and powerful enough to communicate from both festival stages and small computer speakers; the stylistic variety ranges from dance-pop to an almost acoustic lilt to a nearly a capella song. Sanborn’s musical training is evident not so much in virtuosity as the layered and tastefully restrained arrangements, which advance and recede deftly; the sound isn’t sparse but nothing’s there that doesn’t need to be, which leaves plenty of room for the hooks to sink in.” – Variety\

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