POP. 1280 - Museum On The Horizon LP

Includes d/l code.

Insert with lyrics. Black vinyl housed in mirrored sleeve.

Highly recommended.

Following the release of their 2016 album Paradise, NYC’s art-punk act Pop. 1280 have done much to push their sound in exciting directions. With lead singer Chris Bug harnessing his inner-Michael Gira, the now-trio have built on 2019’s Way Station and unleashed Museum on the Horizon, a throwback to 80s post-punk and new wave with a cyberpunk overcoat.

This aesthetic is nothing new, but the band sounds more invigorated on Museum than they have in years, even amidst lineup and label changes. The stylized title track opens the record like a coked-out Blade Runner homage – dark and mysterious but livened by frigid and bare synths. Bug’s not hiding like he used to on previous Pop. 1280 records, his grotty, grisly voice leads the attack.

The album ripples with this freshness, an indication that the band wants to break new ground on their own sound. It’s accomplished, mostly, on trance-inflected cuts like “Not Too Deep,” where the threesome craft a danceable beat that still feels purposely languid and desolate before Bug’s vocals echo down the hallways.