Montreal experimental rock band YAMANTAKA//SONIC TITAN doesn’t write albums, they write song cycles. On their new record UZU (on Paper Bag), they deploy their signature brand of art house prog for an emotional concept album about a woman stranded at sea. While their debut distanced listeners with harsh industrial noise, their sophomore effort draws the audience right back in thanks to a broader range of softer sounds and lighter instrumental arrangements (see: the insane pan-Asian percussion loop of “Bring Me The Hand Of Bloody Benzaiten”). Even singer Ruby Kato Attwood has learned to dial back her wailing banshee act to harness a quiet power on the dueling “Seasickness Pt. 1 and 2.” Like the sea, UZU is dark, vast and easy to get in lost in. 

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