The Luyas' frontwoman, Jessie Stein, wasn't kidding when she said Animator is "not a dance party." Though some tracks skip gently to rhythms that club kids could groove to ("Fifty Fifty" and "Your Name's Mostly Water," barely), there's an inarguably somber tone to the Canadian group's third LP. The news of a friend's death just as recording commenced is clearly a factor in the ethereal, elusive feel here. Stein's delicate vocals lead the fluttering violins and groaning cellos with grace, while oscillating synths and muted percussion fill the gaps between pillowy woodwinds, zero-gravity guitars, and Stein's Moodswinger, a zither-based instrument designed by Yuri Landman. Animator is a sophisticated yet somewhat amorphous work of orchestral elegance and emotional bloodletting that creates a cloak of introspection for listeners. Liner notes for "Crimes Machines" say "the ghost wrote this one"; any way you interpret that, it's hard to ignore the David Lynchian otherworldliness that envelops that track and the chilling beauty of the nine others.