Heza
Recorded in phases between Public Hifi in Austin, Bent Black studio in D.C., and the band's hometown of New Orleans, Heza finds Generationals more satisfied in songs that breathe and grow over time. These songs show restraint, with the hooks developing in the spaces between sounds and an attention to rhythms and textures revealing a more patient band willing to dig for deeper gems than in their previous work. Tracks like "You Got Me" and "Put a Light On" use minimalist electronic frameworks to match the intensity of more straightforward guitarwork on "Spinoza" and "I Never Know," all of them placing the focus more on layers and arrangements than to forcing the hook. On Heza, Generationals aren't so much shedding their old skin as growing more comfortable in the one they've always inhabited.
Generationals' third full-length takes their knack for writing bright, melodically-charged pop songs, but tones down the boisterousness of its predecessor, their 2011 high-water mark, Actor-Caster.
A couple years back, if you were lucky enough to have Generationals' “Ten-Twenty-Ten” find its way into your path, you…