South London’s Goat Girl follow up their 2018 self-titled debut with “On All Four,” an offbeat look at the world’s injustices and social prejudices through sci-fi synthesizers and analogue drum machines. The sophomore album is dystopic at times while it grapples with environmental issues that are anything but fictional, through stunted stops she sings “Littered seas, feels like we're an infection” on the quartets’ second song “Badibaba.” The sound matches the dark and fantastical subject matter of the album, not fantastical in the sense that it’s fantastic but in that the darkness is overemphasized to give it a sense of fantasy. Like any good dystopian novel, “On All Fours” is gritty at times, such as on “The Crack” with it’s crunchy guitars. For a textural experience that combines a dark mystique with a techno powered sci-fi influence, give “On All Fours” a spin.

By Emma Chekroun