It’s only been a few months since the last Black Dresses album, THANK YOU, but the Toronto experimental pop duo is already back with another new album, LOVE AND AFFECTION FOR STUPID LITTLE BITCHES. In the interim, Devi McCallion and Rook have kept busy remixing songs from their 2018 debut WASTEISOLATION and enticing one-offs like “It’s A Beautiful World” from earlier this month.

Their latest, LOVE AND AFFECTION, can be just as jarring as their past work, but there’s also more melodicism here, less noise freak-outs and a lot of tender moments in between the chaos. It’s world-weary and searching, Rook and McCallion’s increasingly deft production skills allowing more space and breathing room for some truly gorgeous moments to unfold.

“Music isn’t magic/ I’m not sure that music is anything at all,” McCallion wonders at the start of one of the tracks. “If it was the answer, don’t you think that all our problems would be solved?”

It’s another stellar entry in a discography that shows no signs of slowing down. It’s also in the running for the best album name of the year. Listen to it below.

LOVE AND AFFECTION FOR STUPID LITTLE BITCHES is out now.