Iron＜Beige Vinyl＞

Arriving ten years after the fun-loving indie rockers released their debut EP in 2015, the self-produced IRON is Post Animals fourth studio album and their first to feature Joe Keery -- aka Stranger Things Steve Harrington -- since their 2018 full-length debut. IRON also saw all six of them gathering in person in the studio after operating remotely for a few years, with several other members besides Keery having relocated away from their base of Chicago. These reunions seem significant on an album that is not only named for the friends connection but proves to be their most sentimental release yet, with topics like friendship, loss, and aging surfacing on many of the songs. Relatedly, it finds them leaning away from some of the more boisterous, hotdogging psych-rock of their past and toward a more reflective AOR -- at least on average. IRON opens with the instrumental prelude "Malcolms Cooking," which invites listeners onto the balcony for some drinks. "Last Goodbye" then settles into a sleek, Toto-esque keyboard-and-pedal steel pop/rock for uncertain lyrics such as "I got a feeling like/Its feeling like the last time/Last goodbye/And it dont feel right." They wear their hearts on their sleeves again on "Maybe You Have To," a synthy, early-80s-styled tribute to drummer Wesley Toledos dearly departed abuela. Elsewhere, the livelier, more hard rock-oriented, cowbell-employing "Setting Sun" also addresses loss and absence, and the melancholy, almost Twin Peaks-like title track includes lyrics like "We are aging" and "I will give, I will take/When my back starts to ache." Despite this more earnest demeanor, IRON doesnt suffer for want of melodic hooks and catchy riffs -- or, for that matter, a playful essence -- especially on more animated entries like the bouncy "Pie in the Sky" and the punchier "Dorien Kregg." Throughout, Post Animal evoke bands ranging from the Beatles to Foreigner and ELO, but with a less-polished spirit that keeps everything tethered to earth. (In another homecoming, IRON also marks Post Animals return to the Polyvinyl label.) ~ Marcy Donelson