The new album from the New York duo is a brilliant, attention-deficit monument to organised chaos.

‘It’s A Beautiful Place’ is a record that bristles with tension but shines with optimism, a triumph of attention-deficit perfectionism. Its sonic palette could be compared to a y2k meal, its eclectic side dishes crudely wrapped into a tablecloth and hurled directly in the face of the listener. It takes the odd synth line from a Britney song, splices that with a disembodied nu-metal riff, throws some Yeah Yeah Yeahs production into the mix, and turns up the heterogeneity until the dial comes off. For any other band, this level of musical overstimulation might feel diffuse, musique concrète lacking concrete statement. In the hands of Racheal Brown and Nate Amos, however, it becomes an illuminatingly abstract collage. The polarities of the album are brought together by Brown’s sprechgesang, sincere whilst dripping in detached-cool, and Amos’s production, beautifully organised in its disorganisation.

Originally from Chicago, Water From Your Eyes moved to New York as the city’s scene began its best run in twenty years. Geese, Frost Children, James K and myriad others have all re-established New York as one of the capitals of weird rock and weirder pop, and there is no odder among them than Water From Your Eyes. ‘It’s A Beautiful Place’ veers between experimental pop and dance-punk, conveying scattered vignettes of confusion and conflict over pristine mixing and uncomplicated four-on-the-floor.

The album is structured as a song cycle, beginning and ending with fading ambience that channels Animal Collective before exploding into ‘Life Signs’, a tense balancing act between an Evanescence-style riff, scattering drums, and speak-sing vocals describing the discontent of “life in a small town”. It features stunning guitar work, as Amos moves rapidly on from the initial riff into an elegant guitar melody and then into country-infused licks. ‘Nights In Armor’ loses none of the pace, with powerful fuzz bass and frantic strumming. Brown’s one-liners are Beat and offbeat, a thought bubble of memorable non-sequiturs (“I just wanna fight you cuz I’m tired / tighter and you trash around / no fire, no world, and it hurts”). It’s just as thought-provoking as the wacky instrumentals beneath.

Noise pop heavy-hitter ‘Born 2’ pushes further on the gas. Feeble Little Horse comparisons are difficult to avoid here, as both projects juxtapose walls of noise with innocently deadpan vocals. The lyrics reflect the duality, as Brown targets “psychopaths” in amongst lines about how “the world is a paradise”. After a brief interlude and the somewhat samey ‘Spaceship’, the listener is treated to the alt-dance perfection of ‘Playing Classics’. If this album were an art exhibition, the biggest room in the space would be dedicated to this song, and that room would probably be a club. Driven by pumping, Kylie-imbibing synth-bass, ‘Playing Classics’ is a dance pop experiment with as many surprises as hooks. It’s like if Brian Eno remade ‘Here Come The Warm Jets’ in 2002 on the condition it had to pop off as much on a Madonna mixtape as it did in a performance art space, with Television time-traveling from 1977 to help. In short: I think it’s good.

‘Blood On The Dollar’ closes off the record, returning to simplistic indie pop songwriting, with sweet melodies and strummed guitar. After a record which throws everything at the wall, this Neil Young-style rocker feels like pure catharsis, in which Brown and Amos slump down in the back of the taxi and invite the listener to take a load off with them: “There’s no enemy, nothing but skin… God make me wind”. ‘It’s A Beautiful Place’ asks a lot of its audience, constantly swerving from one extreme to another, prompting chaos in the mosh pit and disorder on the dancefloor. The regular interludes, which provide pleasant intrigue if not real substance, act as well-deserved rest breaks. For those with the adequate mix of short attention span and anxious energy, this album is like looking into mirrorland. And it is indeed a beautiful place.