HISTORY

The Knocks take inspiration from the golden ages of disco and house, when underground cred and universal acclaim went hand in hand. HISTORY, the New York duo’s third album, is a starry-eyed love letter to the transformative powers of dance pop. It’s front-loaded with big hooks and even bigger feelings: “Bodies,” featuring MUNA, works Fleetwood Mac-grade harmonies into a future-disco tearjerker; “R U HIGH,” featuring Mallrat, sounds like the saddest song Daft Punk never wrote; and “All About You,” featuring Foster the People, is a shimmering psych jam in the tradition of Spiritualized and Tame Impala. The Parson James-fronted “River,” meanwhile, is as sweetly cathartic as dance music gets. Positioned between throwback French house, ’80s teen movie soundtracks, and cutting-edge pop, HISTORY strikes a vibe as singular as it is vast.