This Bay Area-dwelling group entered the scene with a bang when their 2021 debut cassette dropped and their second LP Instant Pop Expressionism Now! then only further affirmed them as a driving force in the current art punk landscape, which is not all too surprising really once you notice we're dealing with folks who, mainly in the previous decade, have been dabbling about in groups like The World, Andy Human and the Reptoids, Rays and Violent Change. Their third longplayer out via Siltbreeze Records now feels a lot more rustic and brittle than their predecessor, relying heavier on odd iterludes while going lighter on immediately catchy hooks and moments but it's exactly that kind of frugal stinginess that actually makes this record all the more enchanting and rewarding by adding a certain layer of early The Fall-esque repitition that really starts to kick in during In Any Case, and a signature refusal to serve the listener any easy payoff or comforting resolution to the built-up tensions, dissonant loops and patterns. The dub flourishes and techniques in Where The Dream Dwells then have more of a Swell Maps feel to them and maybe, in more recent years, the early works of Exek. Flash #1 on the other hand seems to give extensive tribute to Wire as it could well fool you into thinking you're listening to an excellent Pink Flag outtake, with a bit of a Television and Fall vibe tacked on for good measure, after which Embankment Terror ventures even further into the more pop-oriented side of that early Wire era. So yeah, once again this sounds like a representative round-trip through much of old british DIY- and art punk at times with groups like Mekons, Desperate Bicycles, Membranes, Television Personalities and the aforementioned Swell Maps and Wire coming to mind but at the same time, these tunes have a lot in common with a newer breed of art punk acts aswell in the vein of Cuticles, Famous Logs In History, Onan Servo, Toe Ring and Germ House just to name a couple of 'em.