“I’m counting days that I don’t have/I’m losing hair and tell myself it’s not that bad,” sings vocalist/guitarist Zoe Catterall on “Take It Over,” the opening track on The Buoys’ second album. It sets the tone for a record that riffs on the relentless pace of modern life and the anxieties that come with it, and what happens when you finally stop trying to keep up. Against a backdrop of ’90s-inspired angst rock and power pop, Catterall swings between defiance and vulnerability. On the aptly titled “Bitch,” she’s squaring off against an adversary (“So tell me how you figured out all the answers/Well, I’m over here thinking I prefer mine”), while on the melancholy and melodic “Give or Take”, she’s laying bare her insecurities (“Sadness is contagious/So I better stay away/I tend to keep it to myself/Than burden anybody else”). “Stay up to Date on Politics,” meanwhile, is a portrait of an artist in stream-of-consciousness mode, Catterall unloading a manic collection of thoughts (“Why can’t we make electric cars more affordable?/I know I have food in the fridge but should I order in?/Oh shit I think I have to start this episode again/I wasn’t watching, my mind was overthinking it”). At least she finds peace in the revenge scenario of “Kill You Back,” a song about being murdered and haunting her assailant: “Watched you put me in the ground/And then you called your mother/Now I follow you around/Feet up, I’m riding shotgun.”