Montreal-based post-punk quartet Ought had an extremely productive, prosperous 2014, releasing one of the most acclaimed debut albums of the year (
More Than Any Other Day) in addition to a well-received EP (
Once More with Feeling...), as well as spending much of the year on tour. The group spent the winter months of 2015 working on new material, returning to Montreal's Hotel2Tango studio with engineer Radwan Ghazi Moumneh during the spring to record its follow-up album. The result is a tight, focused set of songs that trim some of the sprawling tendencies of Ought's previous recordings, with brief songs such as "The Combo" and "Celebration" feeling more punchy and immediate than before, while still allowing for longer epics like "Beautiful Blue Sky." ~ Paul Simpson