Preoccupations
Ill at Ease
BORN LOSERS

Creating pulsing, beat-driven post-punk with a catchiness that can’t be denied, Calgary’s Preoccupations return in full force with their fifth full-length. Titled Ill at Ease, the band led by mellifluous vocalist/bassist Matt Flegel ironically couldn’t sound more comfortable in their own skin over the course of the confidently helmed eight-track outing, which seamlessly alternates between joyful and haunting moods.

Flegel and drummer Mike Wallace formed the project after working together in Women, which disbanded in 2010. Their new project’s first endeavor, 2015’s regrettably named Viet Cong (which they released under that same moniker) was an enigmatic, murky recording that perpetuated Women’s lo-fi sensibility, but rarely strove for infectiousness. After renaming themselves, the quartet released two more records: a self-titled affair in 2016 and 2018’s New Material, which continued their infatuation with Joy Division–style post-punk. Somewhat akin to that band’s surviving members pursuing a hookier direction with the successive group New Order, Preoccupations took a turn for a broader-appealing sound with 2022’s Arrangements.

Ill at Ease surpasses their record from three years ago with even more listener-friendly singles, chief among them the shiny-sounding title track, the limber and distortion-free “Bastards,” and the upbeat “Focus.” Preoccupations contrast their delectable sounds with cult imagery from the ’70s and apocalyptic lyrics that prove they’re privy to the socio-political context in which they’ve delivered their most easy-listening music to date. “Maybe, when you feel it all collapsing / There’s nothing left here to enjoy / I think we’re ready for the asteroid,” Flegel sings on “Bastards.” He further vents his frustration with himself on “Focus,” admitting, “I’m doing my best / To forget everything that I know / But I can’t shake the shame of mistakes that I made.”

Flegel, who seems hard on himself throughout the record, deftly opts for graceful musicality as his comeuppance for the uncertainty he expresses in his lyrics. The mid-album tracks “Retrograde” and “Panic” are the most cerebral on Ill at Ease, but the band tactfully pivots back to the illuminating “Andromeda,” “Sken,” and the sweeping closer “Krem 2” to ensure that their fifth record dismounts on a glorious note. All in all, Preoccupations prove themselves—like never before—able to hone a full-bodied post-punk record that maintains a solid connection with the listener throughout, mostly avoids the temptation to self-indulge with repetitive angular melodies upon which some bands over-rely, and ensure that Ill at Ease is their most immediately likable record to date.

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