Thee Oh Sees

From the tracks filling your hard-drive to the records monopolizing cubes in your Expedit shelving unit, Thee Oh Sees are an obscenely prolific band. Then there's their absurd touring schedule: an endless race around the world that means you've likely seen them a number of times. Like clockwork, 2013 is no different, with new LP Floating Coffin and another overwhelming tour schedule. Death and taxes, meet Thee Oh Sees. Before you start Googling to see if "Thee Oh Sees fatigue" is a real condition, give this new album a fighting chance. Sure, it's their seventh full-length since 2007, not including the near-aggressive barrage of singles and rarities, but it also demonstrates the group at their most refreshed, inspired and accomplished. That isn't to say they've changed — Dwyer's yelps and guitar lines still meld perfectly with Brigid Dawson's sweet backing vocals and organ, while drummers Mike Shoun and Lars Finberg stay busy alongside Petey Dammit's wild baritone bass lines. The songwriting hasn't changed much either, with compositions ranging from sweaty garage stompers (opener "I Came From the Mountain") to slowed down psych sludge ("Night Crawler") and tracks that do both ("Strawberries 1+2"). Sure, there are slight variations on the formula and some additional instrumentation (namely strings and harpsichord), but this is still Thee Oh Sees being the very best Thee Oh Sees they can be. And it's working well — the band aren't even close to running out of good ideas, so you'd better make some room on your credit card.