To call the Carney Brothers prolific songwriters would be a gross understatement. The trio has recorded and released five albums in less than two years, and each effort seems to be better than the last.

Living, the brothers’ fourth LP for Thrill Jockey Records, finds Van, Lain, and Jennings at their creative peak. Their last effort – Sea Voids – was recorded using mostly single takes and took just eight nighttime sessions to put to tape. This time the brothers took four months to record the twelve tracks that would become Living, and the attention to detail shows.

The dense atmospherics from previous albums are still there, but the low end is more gut shaking than ever before. Songs like “This Is Living” showcase the way Jennings’ bass lines anchor Van’s just-sloppy-enough guitar work over Lain’s spot-on but never bombastic percussion work.

Sometimes they sound like The Black Keys’ cooler brother (“Young”, “Thousands Citrus”), but if the Keys are the headliner, then Pontiak is playing the after party where everyone is chasing cheap bourbon with even cheaper cigarettes. This album is a sonically dynamic collection of songs that begs to be played on vinyl and listened to with a drink in hand.

By the time “And By Night” arrives, it’s truly is a living, breathing monster. You can almost feel the music breathing down your neck as distorted guitar wash and heavily plucked bass push eardrums to the edge before drums roll and crash into the song’s feedback laden conclusion. Only a mute wouldn’t be gasping for air by the end of the four-minute blitz of sound.

Thankfully, Pontiak know how to slow it down, and the Carneys always save room for a few softer moments. The next tracks – “Second Sun” and “Beach” – are downtempo affairs that don’t sacrifice any of the sonic texture that makes Living such an engaging listen.

The album’s greatest strength is the way it doesn’t try to be too ambitious. It clocks in at just over 40-minutes, and Pontiak never take a song further than it needs to go. It’s this willingness to stop when they’re ahead that will earn the Carney brothers a devoted following that devours their albums over and over again. No matter how quickly they can produce them.