No Age – An Object

Los Angeles based duo No Age’s previous albums explored the boundaries between noise, punk and melodic indie-rock, with frequent beatific results. Their fourth, An Object, finds them on rather more jagged territory, guitarist Randy Randall’s washed out noise-scapes scaled back to angular rhythms and taut riffs. Drummer and singer Dean Spunt yelps the words out with force and conviction, with the album sounding markedly less produced than previous outings.

On opener No Ground Spunt screeches ‘I don’t care what you say / I don’t work for you,’ the chanted, didactic lyrics recalling Crass or Minor Threat. But it’s the dreamier, more personal numbers (see Running From A-Go-Go: “long drive / tears in your eyes / I wanna be off that road again”) that define No Age as a great band, still capable of pulling heart strings, as well as challenging both ears and mind.