Automatic make deviant pop music that cuts through the brainrot. Balancing irreverence with sharp commentary, the L.A. band approached their third album with a dark sense of humor and a renewed sense of momentum. Izzy Glaudini (synths, vocals) and Halle Saxon (bass, vocals) believe messages of change land best with a backbeat and a cheeky groove-and on their new album Is It Now?, they ask us to confront the world’s oppressive structures with fresh urgency.

For Is It Now?, Automatic collaborated with producer Loren Humphrey (Cameron Winter, Nice As Fuck, Arctic Monkeys), building on the minimalist, danceable sound of Signal and Excess. Where earlier records leaned more grid-based, this album was made live and loose-favoring long takes and a rhythm section that breathes. Perky grooves and affable pop melodies act as a Trojan horse for playful political commentary; it may take a few listens to realize that the pulsing bassline, stabbing synths, and sci-fi FX of‘mq9’ are meant to echo the sound of drone bombs.

The band wanted the record to sit comfortably alongside artists like A Certain Ratio or Air. On ‘Don’t Wanna Dance,’ they nod to late-’70s British scenes shaped by Caribbean music, where dub collides with punk and funk slips into motorik grooves. ‘Smog Summer’ draws inspiration from Patrick Cowley (also an influence on ‘NRG’ from Excess), grounding its environmental message in a disco thrum.

Unsparing in their critique-of automated warfare (‘mq9’), mindless consumerism (‘Is It Now?’), and the political influence of oil (‘The Prize’)-Is It Now? also offers ways forward: dancing, resisting, coming together, falling in love. Like its title, the album doesn’t claim to have all the answers, but it might inspire better questions-or at least get you dancing yourself awake while searching.

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