Bodega have upped the ante on new mini-album Shiny New Model, and if you know anything at all about the New York five-piece it's kind of a big deal that the band – whose multi-talented members play the roles of, amongst other things, art director and conductor – are hitting a proper recording studio for the first time.
With that, and the introduction of former STOMP drummer Tai Lee to replace the outgoing percussionist Montana Simone, expectations were high for their sophomore effort, and are largely met.
The band follow last year's Endless Scroll with more left-of-centre art-rock, stitched together into a warm patchwork with no two pieces an exact match and all the more lovable for it. Pulled together with a thread of wide-eyed wonder, lead single 'Shiny New Model' takes flight with airy hooks just a couple of months late for a pop at festival domination, and altitude is mostly maintained across the other six (and a half – the band offer an extended version of bouncing closer 'Truth Is Not Punishment' as well as the regulation version) songs.
Things take a thrilling nosedive on 'No Vanguard Revival', where fuzzy guitar clenches a fist around the sound and lends some weight, flipping the blissed-out sound on its head, where it remains for much of the rest of the record – 'Knife On The Platter' is a trippy bass-led track where the urgent vocals of frontman Ben Hozie are given a new dimension by Nikki Belfiglio's chaotic delivery, and these take centre stage on the offbeat 'Domesticated Animal' which delights and confounds in equal measure.
The rest of Shiny New Model treads a more familiar path with mid-paced lovelies 'Treasures of the Ancient World' and 'Realism', but the show really belongs to the rousing chorus of 'Truth Is Not Punishment', a fitting counterpoint to the soaring title track, and the fact that we are offered a 10-minute long jam of it is just marvellous. A record that benefits from several spins, Shiny New Model is well worth your time.
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