5 out of 5

Label: Secretly Canadian

Produced by: The Impossible Shapes (engineered by)

Man, what happened to these guys?  I mean, I know what happened, because internet: they fiddled around in some other bands, and on solo ventures, and are still producing great music by most accounts.  But, but… what happened?  Because it wasn’t just a case of a band peaking with a great album and then departing, it was a case of the Shapes hitting an, oof, impossible streak from We Like It Wild on, during which they just kept finding new ways to wrestle their initially Elephant 6 leanings into fantastically blissed out, rockingly weird, uniquely Shape-y psych rock.  Chris Barth’s mythical lyrical leanings added to the strangeness, and so we had several discs of excellence.  Sigh, for which I should be thankful; thankful that their final outting was equally excellent, and maybe something of a composite of those other preceding excellent discs, stepping through all the bubbly, outre, hazy touches of what they produced before for a master work of engaging and mutating and beautifully tweaked tracks.  The cornucopia of animals on the cover is a fascinating parallel: there is a celebratory nature to this disc, separating it from the more downbeat Tum before it.  Barth’s demonology references have also been toned down a bit, though the lyrics still have that dash of the surreal; the stylistic mash of rock and etc. that syncs with that cover is helped by this wordy moderation: the group achieves an amazing slickness thanks to their given abilities; their knowledge of playing together; the production emphasizing every intensely trilled note or warble.

Man, I want more.