Long-running minimal electronic group Xeno & Oaklander turned heads with 2019’s Hypnos, where they shed much of their usual monochromatic textures and left-field predilections for a pop-forward direction powered by polyphonic synthesizers. But the about-face proved successful, and the Brooklyn-based duo of Sean McBride and Liz Wendelbro continued down that Technicolor path on 2021’s Vi/deo, recorded in their Connecticut home studio in the first year of the pandemic. Its songs feel both inviting and distant, nostalgic and modern: “Infinite Sadness” juxtaposes Wendelbro’s half-whispered, wistful singing against bold, propulsive rhythms and foreboding melodies, while the uncanny, icy “Raingarden” could pass as the theme song for a long-lost 80s murder-mystery TV show.
Xeno & Oaklander’s brand-new eighth album, Via Negativa (In the Doorway Light), may be titled and themed around “a study of what not to do,” but musically speaking, the duo get plenty right. On “Lost and There,” McBride and Wendelbro trade vocal lines over a backdrop of heightening suspense, and “Actor’s Foil” is built on a staunch rhythm that seems to mirror Wendelbro’s opening line (“You walk with intention / In the circle of my attention”). On “O Vermillion,” McBride’s deadpan delivery counters Wendelbro’s airy singing and spoken-word vocals, which together recall the romantic style of classic French pop. The record’s lush atmospheres and robust beats should feel even more gigantic live, so break out your dancing shoes.
Xeno & Oaklander Panic Priest opens. Tue 11/26, 8 PM, Beat Kitchen, 2100 W. Belmont, $15, 17+