On their third album in three years,
Male Gaze
returned to their original trio format and went back into the studio with
Chris Woodhouse
; the result is their best-sounding album of tough, murky, garagey punk yet.
Miss Taken
is very much of a piece with their first two records; not much has really changed. They stick to a stripped-down, fiery attack with thick and nasty guitars and
Matt Jones
' growling vocals high in the mix, while the bass and drums chase them down like a pack of hungry stray dogs. But some strangely subtle (for such an unsubtle-sounding band) improvements make this a better record. It feels like their confidence grows each time out, as the hooks get sharper, the guitars get more overpowering, and everything hits harder, like a hammer dropping from a great height. Tracks like "All Yours" and "African Ripoff" build a doomy, claustrophobic atmosphere, with the guitars forming what sounds like a wall of swarming bees. "Keep Yr Kools" and "If U Were My Girl" have a swaggering strut that's reminiscent of early
Spoon
, if they were darker and a bit more reductive. When
lighten up here, it's the lightest they've ever been. The briskly jangling "Didn't" comes off like
Ian Curtis
' little brother fronting
R.E.M.
when they were still choked by kudzu, "Tell Me How It Is" could be a twin of one of the heartfelt ballads on
Terry Malts
' excellent
Lost at the Party
album, and the title track is immersed in tremolo and heartache, sort of like if
Santo
&
Johnny Thunders
were a thing. Nothing is too far from what they did before, and there are no really shocking departures anywhere. Instead, it's clear that
have hit their stride on
, and made the near-brilliant post-punk garage rock album their first two promised. ~ Tim Sendra