Running with Scissors

Running with Scissors immediately cuts through the gauzy chiffon of the glossed-over sound that Afternoon Bike Ride have become known for. Opening with the languid, back-pocket bass groove and key flourishes of the sparse, soul-indebted "20 Seasons," frontwoman Lia Kurihara laments the end of an era of her life, while simultaneously beginning another for both herself and the shapeshifting Montreal-based trio.Kurihara has been through a lot. She started writing the band's sophomore album, 2022's Glossover, after becoming the primary caregiver for her father amid his Alzheimer's diagnosis — a five-year endeavour ahead of his death in recent months. Everything she and co-conspirators David Tanton and Éloi LeBlanc-Riguette have made together over this period has amounted to a prolific, touching tribute to his life that they should be proud of.Running with Scissors sees Kurihara beginning to process the messiness of moving forward, propelled by centripetal motion to get to the sharp point at the end of the shears that only she can wield. While she, Tanton and LeBlanc-Riguette have previously drawn an airy power from casting a silky, optimistic sheen across the harsh realities they address in their music, this record comes together as their most sonically varied and narratively striking. Embracing new sonic reflections of the treachery — the horn section bolstering "Feel Through" to power-ballad status, the guitar distortion of "Miss Universe" grounding Kurihara's featherlight vocals, the title track's breakbeat-inspired breakdown — that may be less shiny only adds to the holistic beauty of the Afternoon Bike Ride experience.