Enablers – Blown Realm and Stalled Explosions

Enablers’ mélange of stream-of-consciousness poetry and juddering math-rock was never going to make them stadium-fillers, but there was always something there that was going to resonate with a certain personality. Their latest looks set to be trying to rope in some new listeners too – not by means of simplification, but rather the opposite; the music here is now more complex than it ever was, moving into a realm that more accurately keeps pace with Pete Simonelli’s dextrous lyricism.

As it has always been, Simonelli’s delivery sways back and forth between vehement and morose, his subjects ranging from the banal to the surreal, but on the likes of Maorandi: Natura Morta #86 they hold their own place alongside – rather than smothering – Joe Goldring and Kevin Thompson’s intricate melodies. By reinforcing the band’s individual strengths yet arranging them in a more harmonious manner, they’ve produced something that has all the intensity of End Note but presented as one of their most balanced releases so far. [David Bowes]