The full-length U.S. debut by this Australian quartet is a fresh blast of vintage turmoil: a robust spin on the echo-laden romanticism of early-Eighties New Wave rock. "I'll be waiting/For your never-ending wave/For our passage to arise," singer Hayley Mary promises in "Endless Summer," in a low, fretful tone before arcing over Heather Shannon's keyboards and Sam Lockwood's guitar like Björk leading a young U2 – or maybe the adult Kate Bush fronting guitar modernists Explosions in the Sky. The songs are intrepid dissections of desperate connection ("City Girl," "Nobody Nowhere"). The result should be the start of beautiful friendships here.

Listen to "Endless Summer":

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• Photos: Random Notes

“Youth Knows No Pain”

“Like on 'Youth Knows No Pain' — we are the ones that should demonstrate, because we can take it,” Likke Li said. “We can pierce ourselves, take Ecstasy, dance all night and still go to work at our McDonald's jobs.” Despite the hedonistic sentiment in the song, the Swedish singer also admitted in hindsight her youth had repercussions. “I remember when I was 18-19 and feeling that I know it all,” Li said. “I always feel that I know it all. But that song is about realizing you don’t, and reflecting, ‘Boy, if I only knew what would follow.’”