Three years removed from their debut, the indie electro-pop duo of singer Amelia Meath and producer Nick Sanborn returned with a denser sound and a very different goal than the blissfully direct objective of “making people dance.” The band called What Now a representation of “the inevitable low that comes after every high.” Indeed, Meath and Sanborn dispense with many of the freeing and expansive sounds of their debut,
Sylvan Esso’s spangly electro-pop songs can throb joyfully, even ecstatically. But on “What Now”, even the brashest bashers — “The Glow,” “Kick Jump Twist,” et al — are deepened by the gently reflective ballads that surround them. As producer Nick Sanborn gives weight to the soft static in “Slack Jaw,” for example, Amelia Meath sings of the way being in love can produce a strangely humbling sense of awe: “I got all the parts I’ve wished for / I’ve got everything I need / Sometimes I’m above water / But mostly I’m at sea.”
As its title suggests, What Now fixates heavily on aftermaths, whether it documents music-industry pressures in the grabby “Radio” or, in “Die Young,” faces down a logistical complication Meath hadn’t anticipated: “I was gonna die young / Now I gotta wait for you.” But the album feels most of all like a celebration — of connection, of commitment and acceptance, of movement and sound and the liberation that comes with letting love in.
The Fat Angel Sings 