The follow-up to
Bambara
's
Stray
, the most fully realized work of the Brooklyn band's career so far, shifts away from their earlier noise-rock sound, incorporating glossier keyboards into their gothic post-punk street dramas. The group released
about a month before COVID-19 forced everyone into lockdown, and the three members, then separated and located in different parts of the country, tried to remotely record new music. Ultimately, they canned an EP that they weren't satisfied with, and decided to start over and create something together, when they were all able to gather in New York. The six songs on
Love on My Mind
often portray the gritty scenes of late-night desperation that frontman
Reid Bateh
specializes in, but this time there's a more personal bent to the lyrics, particularly on rollicking highlight "Mythic Love" and glimmering surf-noir tune "Birds," two abstract romance tales of different velocities. "Point and Shoot" and "Little Wars" respectively incorporate sax and trombone into their sonic backdrops, yet they appear as atmospheric layers rather than commanding lead instruments. Intense in a slightly different way than
's previous releases,
demonstrates their growth as mature, introspective songwriters. ~ Paul Simpson