‘Hair back, use the heat, crossed legs, erase the pink, pain is in fashion, no sense of self is always in fashion’ (Playing Puppet)

Musical Chairs is Artificial Go’s second album and sees the Cincinnati band began to inventively expand the skeletal, angular art-punk of last year’s debut, Hopscotch Fever.  The pacing is a touch more mellow, the instrumentation a little lusher as the band conjure an atmosphere that evokes a notably welcoming warmth, mirroring the band’s own growing self-confidence.  This increased expansiveness sees their trademark bright, scratchy guitars, snappily crisp rhythm section, and catchily understated choruses layered with flourishes of acoustic guitar, saxophone, and looping electronics.

Importantly, however, the off-kilter energy and absurdist imagery that propelled their earlier release is still evident in abundance.  Angie Willcutt’s arrestingly mannered, austerely melodic vocals conjure another set of sharply observed vignettes exploring both life’s darker elements alongside those of a lighter hue.  Playing Puppet dissects misogynistic expectations and Tightrope Walker our frequently distorted relationship with the animal world, while Circles playfully revels in dog breed comparisons and Red Convertible in the desire for just that, but only a red one mind.  The band save their most unexpected twist for the end, closing out on the otherworldly rhythms of Sky Burial.