Another year, another solid record of rock insanity. Drunken lamentations, with only a piano … then, suddenly, five guitars dip dart dazzling and ascend into celestial heights. Interspersed throughout, as always on a Joan of Arc record, are noise loops (this time sounding like sharpening knives and the hollow drone of entering a vortex) and the occasional playful sound collage/experiment. At the end of track six, a variety of frontman voices count “1,2,3,4,” preparing to begin. Strangely tuned guitars join howls and moans of confusion, as patented sloppy plucks overlap into a jamboree. A cabaret for chameleons. One thing that's different, compared to previous Joan of Arc releases, comes in the form of multiple instrumentals, akin to the best parts of their (ridiculously underrated) Guitar Duets album a few years back, and these sections of ecstatic mood will probably be a favorite among passive fans due to the spontaneous ruptures of focused vigor. - Shawn Goldberg