Yup, those big, bold, triple-declaratory exclamation points are back, coated in ice and all, on dance-rock lifers !!!'s fourth full-length, Strange Weather, Isn't It? If it looks like the image is suggesting some sort of back to basics, it's because that's precisely what this record is, moving away from the at-times ham-handed, at-times highly effective rockism of 2007's Myth Takes and more closely evoking the stretched-out, worked-up grooves of the band's earlier efforts, most notably their 2004 Warp debut, Louden Up Now. That frigid, dripping coating comes to define the record's sound as well, as the grooves here are chilly. Synth lines shiver and vibrate on top of dry, crackling drum hits. Frontman Nic Offer's vocals have sounded increasingly refined from Myth Takes on, and as such they're duskier here, as Offer takes on a window-fogging low register when he's not singing the straightforward hooks located on the record.
Those hooks are few and far between, as Strange Weather features a greater focus on texture and mood than conventional melody. Which isn't to say the band isn't capable of indelible earworms; the front half of the record is loaded (frontloaded, perhaps) with exactly those, like the sing-songy chorus on "The Most Certain Sure", the shades-drawn invocations of this album's Best Titled !!! Song award recipient, "Jamie, My Intentions Are Bass", and the disco drops of "Steady as the Sidewalk Cracks". Otherwise, !!! are content to follow whatever extended-mix indulgence that comes to them on this record, and it's not always a good look. Sure, this is their shortest release on Warp yet, and there aren't any side-long cuts here like Myth Takes' eight-minute-plus "Bend Over Beethoven" or the still-titanic Louden Up Now back-ender "Me and Giuliani Down by the School Yard (A True Story)", but Strange Weather, Isn't It? feels like it has its share of filler regardless.
Some of the shorter tracks here act as interstitials, ostensibly to keep the transition between the heavy jams as seamless as any DJ mix, but instead they bring any rising action to a halt. Despite a shouty diva vocal, "Wannagain Wannagain" lacks any sort of visceral smack to make things more compelling; the one-two punch of "Hollow" and "Jump Back", on the other hand, feel more like a double dose of Ambien, with the former especially sounding drained of kinetic energy. When the band heads down the rhythmic rabbit hole here, the results are mixed as well. While the streaked, strung-out midsection of "The Most Certain Sure" is ample material for glassy-eyed dance enthusiasts, it's obvious almost from the beginning of the record's Second Best Titled !!! Song also-ran, "Even Judas Gave Jesus a Kiss", that the song's not going to head past the midtempo melody that kicks it off.
As such, the album's more engaging moments stand out even more (the oscillating breakdown of "The Hammer", the sax line that takes out "Steady as the Sidewalk Cracks", each and every second of "The Most Certain Sure"), but the general disparity of these few-and-far-between moments amidst the record's more driftless filler sadly cements the fate of Strange Weather, Isn't It?: you'll enjoy it plenty while it's on, but once it's over you might forget it ever existed.
