On their second album,
How Will You Know If You Never Try, COIN minimize the
Vampire Weekend affectations that sometimes surfaced on their eponymous 2015 debut, choosing to emphasize big, bright new wave beats and synthesizers. It's a handsomely retro move, one that's reminiscent of anything from
Fun. to
Chvrches, but COIN are a thoroughly mainstream outfit, and they're angling for big hit singles. They may or may not get them, but that desire drives the group to sculpt big, powerful hooks and then dress them in a production so glossy it shimmers. COIN are as good with understated, atmospheric pop -- "Heart Eyes," which pulsates to its quarter-note rhythms -- as they are with the songs that slam the melody over the listener's head ("Boyfriend"), and having those two skills mesh on
How Will You Know If You Never Try turns this record into a giddy good time. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine