- Autolux fans must have been worried when the band announced that the release of their third album, Pussy's Dead, was set for April 1st. Since the release of their debut, the sublime Future Perfect in 2004, the Los Angeles trio have been somewhat infamously unreliable when discussing the likely release of forthcoming music, and it wouldn't have been too much of a stretch to see that release date as something of an elaborate prank. Indeed, the group seem to be on a hardly prolific six-year album cycle, with sophomore record Transit Transit arriving in 2010, and now followed up in 2016 with the act's latest missive. At least drummer Carla Azar has something of an excuse, playing in Jack White's band over the past few years, and generally becoming one of rock's best regarded beatsmiths (she also made an appearance on the big screen in the film Frank).

Future Perfect is often thought of as something of a classic record in indie-rock circles, a sleeper hit that has only gained in stature over the dozen years since its release. Filled with fuzzy guitar-pop hits it split the difference between My Bloody Valentine and Led Zeppelin, pairing the soft vocals of bassist Eugene Goreshter, ex-Failure guitarist Greg Edwards and the aforementioned Azar against thick, fuzzy guitars and huge, bombastic drums. Opener Turnstile Blues remains one of the great introductions to a record, all Bonham-esque drums and explosive choruses. Transit Transit moved the band's sound into slightly more subtle yet varied terrain, replacing a lot of the debut's fuzz guitar with keys and electronic textures, while drums were often set further back in the mix and often electronic in nature. It may not have had the impact of Future Perfect on a song-by-song basis, but numbers like Spots, with its '60’s pop gone 21st century sci-fi' vibe, marked the band as pop-rock experimentalists on par with acts like The Flaming Lips and Radiohead.

So here we have Pussy's Dead. All of the hallmarks of Autolux are present and placed in the centre of focus: the deep, throbbing bass; big, syncopated beats; soft, multi-tracked vocals; and meticulously textured production. Produced with Boots, a collaborator of big name pop acts like Beyonce, it sounds like the perfect consolidation of their prior works: the breadth of sound of Transit Transit paired with the immediacy of Future Perfect. Tracks like Anonymous and Change My Head revisit the retro-futurist act of Spots, while Selectallcopy and Brainwasher could slot straight in amongst the debut's somewhat more straightforward rock vibe. Elsewhere we have the electronic, almost hip-hop Soft Scene, which combines stark drum machines with Azar's wisp-thin vocals and a deep sub-bass pulse, and closer Becker blending acoustic guitars, stuttering drums, big fuzz and dream-pop.

As with their previous output, Pussy's Dead's sonics have been endlessly fussed over and refined. Every sound, from drum machine to fuzz bass to twinkling keyboards, is perfectly captured and then meticulously placed into a patchwork of complimentary and contrasting textures. Six years might be an interminably long wait between releases, especially in these days of instant gratification via constant bombardment of new music through the Internet, but at least you can partly understand why Autolux operate on a slightly longer timeframe than most other bands. Furthermore, the songs are the equals of the presentation. No two songs cover much of the same territory, yet they hang together, always hitting the mark and always sounding like Autolux. Thirty-one songs in eighteen years isn't exactly a lot to grasp onto as a fan of a band, but when they're as consistently good as what this group puts out it does make things easier. It would be nice to think that the next album might not be so far down the line but, whatever the band says to the contrary, it seems a bit much to hope for given prior form. Until then, see you in 2022.

- Cameron Smith.