Lali Puna's previous album,
Faking the Books, was a drastic change for a previously subdued group. Most of its songs featured electric guitars in a prominent role. Some of them, at various points, were loud. On
Our Inventions, following a break of six years, guitars go back to supplying texture, while programmed rhythms and synthesizers, with delicately struck vibraphones, rule the album’s makeup. Not one of the songs is louder than a lullaby, the ideal setting for Valerie Trebeljahr's vague, charmingly awkward, and clipped lyrics and whispered vocals. There are no real standouts, no (relatively) big hooks as heard on
Scary World Theory's "Lowdown"; instead, there is a steady stream of hushed electronic pop songs that is as easy to enjoy as it is to ignore -- and be struck with the thought that, at some point, your mood lifted a bit. On the closing “Out There,” Trebeljahr is joined by Yellow Magic Orchestra's Yukiro Takahashi, and the two voices complement one another with such sweetness that a full album of duets sounds like the best next step for both of them. ~ Andy Kellman