Scottish indie rock combo
Pinact return as a newly minted trio on their 2017 sophomore set,
The Part That No One Knows. Joining founders Corrie Gillies (vocals, guitar) and Lewis Reynolds (drums) is incoming bassist John Arbuthnott, giving the band's already robust, '90s-indebted fuzz-pop some additional heft as they shout their way through rousing melodic choruses and chunky rapid-fire changes. A generally improved, though far from slick, production value helps pull these 12 tracks a little further out of the lo-fi quagmire that birthed their knotty 2015 debut, Stand Still and Rot. In both tone and songcraft, the
Pixies and
Nirvana remain touchstones of
Pinact's world, while the out-of-bounds noisiness of
Sonic Youth finds its way into the formula as well. Following the ghostly piano instrumental title cut, proceedings get underway with the early standout "Bring You Down," which uses the classic loud-quiet-loud architecture to good effect. Big tuneful screamers like "Separate Ways" and "Against the World" show a band with a nice sense of song construction and penchant for hooky melodies. In the end,
Pinact make another strong case for themselves, though it's hard not to think of them as throwbacks when so much of their sound is rooted in the specifics of noisy early-'90s indie rock. ~ Timothy Monger