Hysterical

iTunes Review

This Philadelphia-to-Brooklyn Internet buzz-band continues to make music that sounds like each member is playing at their most drivingly intense at all moments. It’s a sonic density that’s come to symbolize music production in the 2000s and no one does it better. “Same Mistake” and “Hysterical” come charging out of the gate, as if the band couldn’t wait to be done with their various side projects and get back to their main business. There’s a spunky defiance to the reigning chaos of “Maniac.” “Into Your Alien Arms” is a swooning ballroom rocker. “In a Motel” plays out as a cavernous ballad where the loneliness is heard in the falling-through-space reverb as singer Alec Ounsworth thinks about his mother while out on the road. “Yesterday, Never” tricks things out with synth patterns running circles around the band. “Idiot” features a vocal that cries and moans into the dense night air. “Siesta (For Snake)” broods in the corner. “Ketamine and Ecstasy” shimmers as it should, for this is pop-rock band who have no problems landing on the dancefloor.