Inanimate Objects

If you liked the 2013 debut album (When It Was Now) from keyboard-heavy Australian alt-pop crew Atlas Genius, get ready for something a little different; just enough of a curve ball to keep you guessing. Inanimate Objects is a more introspective affair than its predecessor, filled with loaded questions and odd juxtapositions where even a bouncy tune like “The Stone Mill” is grounded by thought-provoking lines like, “And is it what we waited for?/We could never figure it out.” Likewise with the easygoing “Where I Belong,” where self-judging lyrics like “I'm stuck here where I belong” provide a moment's pause as you get lost in all the lush keys and warm atmospherics. There are also pure pop moments that'll make you smile so hard your face breaks (the upbeat “The City We Grow”), but by and large bandleaders/brothers Keith and Michael Jeffery are more interested in engaging with existential questions than starting dance parties this time around.