Sleigh Bells

Texis

The musicianship is brilliant and the chemistry between Krauss and Miller is the best it’s ever been.

In many ways Texis harkens back to the bombast and sheer euphoria of Treats.

Conformity clearly left a sour taste. For this fifth record they’ve reverted to scintillating savagery.

At its heaviest, ‘TEXIS’ is blistering ... And when synths do take centre stage, no impact is lost.

TEXIS delivers everything that one could hope to find on a Sleigh Bells record: dance worthy beats, angelic vocals, and satisfying boisterousness.

Even if Texis fails to reposition Sleigh Bells as a noise act to be reckoned with, it does succeed in giving us a glimpse into what could have been if the duo had stayed the course.

There are times on Texis that not only do some tracks remind you of previous records, but of previous tracks on the very same album. It’s formulaic, but, as the phrase goes, if it’s not broke, don’t try to fix it.

Not so much a retreat as a celebration of what Sleigh Bells do best, Texis' finest moments thrive on the razor's edge between sweetness and annihilation.

While not necessarily new territory for the band, Texis offers much worth loving, and is not so much a step back, as it is, perhaps, an awkward stumble to one side.

‘Texis’ may be an unrelenting whirlwind of a noise-pop record, built only for a specific mood and moment – when you want to be completed uprooted from everyday existence – but by conveying a genuine joy for being alive, its bigger achievement is to make that everyday existence bearable.

Despite its newfound musical relevance, the influential duo struggles to evolve beyond its signature template of empowering pop hooks and overdriven arrangements.