Brooklyn funk-punk quintet returns with their best album yet

Ava Luna’s sound is a unique blend of R&B and indie rock (I know, sounds like it could be boring, the truth is it’s the shit), flitting between styles and key signatures so freely that any new development in sound feels appropriate. Last year’s great Electric Balloon caught the attention of many, including indie rock super-producer Dave Fridmann (The Flaming Lips, Tame Impala, Sleater-Kinney), who mixed this album, the group’s best yet. The group’s trio of vocalists is given more clarity and ambience than ever before; Carlos Hernandez restlessly cuts between deeply soulful vocalizations and deranged shouts, while the idiosyncratic harmonies of Felicia Douglass and Becca Kauffman swell and contextualize his odysseys. Douglass and Kauffman also shine in the lead role on their respective tracks, the surreal NY noir tale of “Steve Polyester” and the cool funk-pop of “Coat of Shellac.” Meanwhile, guitar patterns, alternately nimble and jagged, skitter around the stereo field, Ethan Bassford’s (yes that’s his name) bass lines bump officiously, and Julian Fader’s drums are the ideal of punchy. While these sonic elements have always been present in Ava Luna’s work, this set of songs uses them the best yet, and Fridmann’s production amplifies them to the nth. On Infinite House, Ava Luna feel more inspired and relentlessly creative than ever before, and have given us a master stroke of a third album.

RIYL: Dirty Projectors, Talking Heads, D’Angelo

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