Yo La Tengo are insatiable in uncovering new folds within their own sound, having recorded varying facets of it over the course of nearly four decades, each reinventing the Hoboken trio in an unwearied light. Their 16th studio effort, This Stupid World, provides no shortage of slow burning familiarity to sort out even the darkest existential inquiry, with many paths preparing to stare down the path of mortality with grace. Georgia Hubley and Ira Kaplan’s vocals maintain their invitationally warm, consistent calm nature throughout, be it absorbed by the feedback-swelling underbelly rising from behind or a blanket of quieter reprieve. Longtime listeners will easily be able to connect the dots within the errant electricity here with the band’s classics such as I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One and And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out, but that almost sounds too easy. There’s something safely daring entwined within the encroaching twilight of This Stupid World that makes you feel like it wants you to become comfortable with your surroundings, so that when it unfurls, it’s extraordinarily beautiful against this earthly mess in typical Yo La Tengo form.

Highlights: “Fallout”, “Until It Happens”, “Miles Away”

Yo La Tengo’s This Stupid World is available now on Matador Records.

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