A Way Forward marks just that for the Brooklyn three-piece. Their second album is an ode to the time that’s passed since 2020’s Introduction, Presence, and acts as a path out of unsure convolution into affirmed prowess.

Although sonically the album echoes their debut, there’s something more assured hidden within the many layers of this new music. Not confidence as such, but more a self-belief, a will to take advantage of what they didn’t see in themselves on album one, but that which everyone else did. A Way Forward takes you on a journey of highs and lows. Boasting incredible explosions of sound, and intricate moments of bittersweet refuge, Nation of Language have found their forté.

Album opener ‘In Manhattan’ acts as a support act to the rest of the record. It excites you with its steady build up. A constant twinkling of synths that crescendo in the tracks closing moments, it’s a sweet introduction back into the neon world of Nation of Language.

‘Wounds of Love’ is an unusually vocally heavy track for the group, with the distinct voice of Ian Richard Devany being found in front of the music opposed to its usual position ever so slightly behind it. It’s a nice change, and again showcases the bands new self-belief: they’re no longer hidden behind the instruments, they now share a stage where both find room to shine.

‘A Word and a Wave’ manages to capture what it was that made Nation of Language so great to begin with. Their furrowed darkness that weaves so delicately with notions of a bright, bright light. There’s something so uplifting about the synths on this track in particular: a truly magnificent track.

Throughout the rest of the record we’re treated to instances of eighties-inspired synth-pop, (‘This Fractured Mind’), elements of the organic, (‘The Grey Commute’), and moments of eerie brooding, (‘Former Self’). Although synths remain at the heart of every track, they never blur into one, with each tune standing firm in its own coherency.

A Way Forward is Nation of Language at their best and boldest. By blending the organic with the synthetic, they’ve crafted a record so uniquely their own, they might as well have their own movement. Let’s call it “nation-core” for now—they’ll think of a better name in good time. 

A Way Forward arrives 5 November.