As Girlpool, the ever-shifting duo of Harmony Tividad and Avery Tucker began as a drummer-less, '90s lo-fi-inspired project by teenaged friends noted for their tight tandem vocals. They soon added more instruments, adopting a more conventional indie rock sound for their second album, then folded in synths, electronics, and more, including orchestral timbres, for a third long-player that found them working and singing separately more often than together, representing yet another modification to their sound. (Tucker also began hormone replacement treatments between albums, which lowered his voice.) Girlpool's fourth album, Forgiveness, finds them altering their sound yet again on a set of songs in which generally sparer arrangements of synthesizers, piano, and programmed drums outnumber those with either the lusher flair of their previous album or any remaining alt-rock inspirations. Throughout all of these changes, Girlpool have remained distinctly emotive, and -- now in their mid-twenties -- Forgiveness speaks candidly about relationship grief, sex, disappointment, and delusion. First track "Nothing Gives Me Pleasure" begins with a series of rhythm blasts of electronic noise, which continue on over gentle, chord progression-marking keyboards as a doleful, pitch-corrected Tividad enters with "Do you even want me if I even have to ask?" The track adds a rhythm section, additional off-kilter sounds, and strings as it heads towards a finale that has the singer repeating, "Nothing gives me pleasure like the things I know you won't say." That song's plaintive, resigned tone dominates the album, including such track as the Tucker-led "Lie Love Lullaby" ("My girl gives the world to you/She'll do just what you ask her to"), the guitar-assisted, indie pop duo entry "Dragging My Life into a Dream," and the gothic synth pop-injected "Afterlife" ("I know the devil sleeps/Cuz he sleeps with me"). The woozy and theatrical "Light Up Later," featuring Zsela, may qualify as an outlier, if a still-melancholy one about setting unrealistic expectations. Likewise, "Country Star," also led by Tucker, borders on dark post-punk. Elsewhere, Tividad's lilting, delicate leads on "Junkie" and the borderline power ballad "Butterfly Bulletholes" are among a handful of the album's most tuneful. When Forgiveness closes with a proper duet, "Love333," its wistful, dramatic electric piano and strings play like an end-credits sequence to a late-night showing of a romantic tragedy. ~ Marcy Donelson, Rovi

1		Nothing Gives Me Pleasure
2		Lie Love Lullaby
3		Violet
4		Junkie
5		Dragging My Life Into a Dream
6		Faultline
7		Light Up Later (feat. Zsela)
8		Country Star
9		Butterfly Bulletholes
10		Afterlife
11		See Me Now
12		Love333

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