

Bittersweet life experience and the grounding effect of friendship are running themes through Body Type’s third album. Working with producer Stella Mozgawa (Warpaint, Courtney Barnett), the Australian quartet soften some of their angular post-punk here—as introduced on the girl-group-inspired opener “And What Else?” a tongue-in-cheek exercise in fishing for compliments. One of the most engaging elements of Body Type is hearing multiple vocalists and songwriters take turns leading the charge from song to song, as well as joining in for intricate vocal harmonies. Guitarist Sophie McComish frankly charts a relationship’s diminishing returns on “Sick Bag,” while bassist Georgia Wilkinson-Derums and guitarist Annabel Blackman collaborate closely on the chiming, Prince-referencing “Mulberry,” with the latter contributing a gorgeous bit of spoken word. And for the first time, all four members built a track from scratch in the studio: “Eye Is a Mouth Is a Face,” whose closely entwined guitar and vocal lines recall Sleater-Kinney. Other passing reference points across the album include noisy ’90s indie rock and perky New Wave, but the players always bring enough of their individual personality to make even the more familiar features feel punchy and fresh.