After exploding on the scene with three thrilling albums of psychedelic fuzz released quickly in succession during 2014-2015, L.A. trio Wand took a step back. Two of the members (leader Cory Hanson, drummer Evan Burrows) ended up joining Ty Segall's touring band, then Hanson put out a solo album, the acid folk-inspired The Unborn Capitalist from Limbo, in 2016. When Wand started working again it was with a couple major changes: they added two new members and shifted their band politics from dictatorship to democracy. In the past, Hanson had brought songs in and the other guys filled them in; now the bandmembers worked songs out together in their rehearsal space. Wand's new approach charts them away from intense guitar workouts that verged on heavy metal and stickily claustrophobic psych pop toward a more traditional indie rock sound that's not a million miles away from what bands like Wilco are doing. Simple melodies, twisting twin-guitar lines, obtuse keyboards, and a widescreen expansiveness are the order of the day; songs like "Charles de Gaulle" are brainy and full of hooks, with sweet vocals from new keyboardist Sofia Arreguin that offset Hanson's harsher tone, and the skittering "White Cat" is nervous, punchy, and not too far from something John Dwyer might cook up for his Damaged Bug project. ~ Tim Sendra, Rovi

1		Setting
2		Plum
3		Bee Karma
4		Charles de Gaulle
5		High Rise
6		White Cat
7		The Trap
8		Ginger
9		Blue Cloud
10		Driving

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