On the Baltimore duo’s fourth album, Ed Schrader and Devlin Rice trade their formerly frenetic energy for ’80s sounds and danceable beats.
Abrasive post-punk was once the modus operandi for Ed Schrader’s Music Beat. On early releases such as 2012’s Jazz Mind and 2014’s Party Jail, the Baltimore duo created bite-sized vignettes rather than full-blown songs. Tracks such as “Televan” and “When I’m in a Car” burst like fireworks, evaporating into the air not long after the fuse was lit. With the Dan Deacon-produced Riddles, however, those serrated edges had softened, and Ed Schrader’s Music Beat expanded their sound. Four years later, vocalist Ed Schrader and bassist Devlin Rice have returned with their fourth studio album, Nightclub Daydreaming, and they have mostly relinquished aggressive post-punk for sleeker, more danceable sounds.
Rice has said that their intention for the album was to craft a collection of “sunny disco bangers.” Although the album sounds more akin to Suicide than Donna Summer, Ed Schrader’s Music Beat take a subtle turn toward the dancefloor. Punchy tracks such as “Eutaw Strut” and “Echo Base” evoke classic new-wave acts like the B-52’s and Talking Heads but with their own Music Beat twist. Propelled by a driving bassline and motorik drums, “This Thirst” is among the most ebullient in the duo’s catalog. Schrader’s echo-soaked vocals, meanwhile, often summon the gloomiest aspects of the ’80s, recalling groups like the Sisters of Mercy.
In a recent Instagram post addressing their gender identity, Schrader announced, “I’ve decided to give you the full me… the me I’ve been repressing in hopes of not making other people feel uncomfortable.” They added, “In your art, you can’t lie. That’s why I have always chosen riddles and cryptic lyrics.” Their writing remains as mysterious as ever, packed with dense imagery and mythic resonance, and laced with references to coded meanings, “buried steps,” and a switched-out lock and key. But there are glimpses of Schrader’s search for their identity: In “Black Pearl,” they sing, “I’m a foreigner even home now/I shut in vaults to heal you,” tracing the lower limits of their register. Their guttural delivery brings their former tourmates Future Islands to mind, and the chorus strikes a cathartic moment on a record that could benefit from more of them. It’s one of their best songs to date. On the following track, “Echo Base,” modulated, Disintegration-esque guitars give way to a slightly monotonous, repetitive hook with little payoff. The drums are so busy that they ultimately distract from the otherwise hazy aura.
The band’s earlier records were nicely varied, with caustic songs broken up by downtempo intermissions, but Nightclub Daydreaming, aside from the centerpiece ballad, “Hamburg,” often sounds homogenous. Regardless, it’s refreshing to hear Schrader and Rice attempt something new a decade into their career when many artists would want to stick with what already works. While they’ve shed the frenetic energy that once defined them, they bring a refined sense of intensity even to their newly unburdened beats. It was difficult to imagine dancing to Ed Schrader’s Music Beat back in 2012, but with Nightclub Daydreaming, that notion is no longer so far-fetched.
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