Building on 2024’s Hopscotch Fever, Cincinnati’s Artificial Go return with ten more tracks of existential post-punk chamber pop. Recorded at Lambda Research and the haunted attic of the band’s house, the core trio of Angie Willcutt, Micah Wu, and Cole Gilfilen have traded the sparse jangle of their debut for a broader, fuller sound this time around. Musical Chairs deftly meshes the angular excitability of Hopscotch Fever with a spectral warmth and expensiveness able to encompass acoustic guitars, Wu’s almost metaphysical funk bass lines, tape loops and blips and bleeps, a guest spot by Eric Dietrich (of The Drin and Sorry Eric) on saxophone, and Gilfilen’s hip moving boom-bap drumming add to the excitement. What’s more, the band’s comfort with each other (they live together for chrissake) and growing confidence in their collaborative creative process is evident throughout. From the live-take “Red Convertible” (with its layered recursive structure - the musical equivalent of a kid laughing and spinning in circles just for fun) to the lunch-break-composed and after-work-recorded “Circles.” 

On Musical Chairs Artificial Go expands their stylistic palate while retaining the New / No / Whatever Wave weirdness that charmed listeners on their debut —a group effort to be sure, but spearheaded by Angie Willcutt’s singular voice and clever, adroit lyrics. In Willcutt’s hands, the struggles, and at times terrors, of our current age are playfully subverted with agile world play and dynamic vocalization that moves from sweet and dreamy to cartoonishly exaggerated as she charts an emotional course through such topics as the difficulties of playing the role of “woman” in a misogynist world (“Playing Puppet”) or the injustice of anthropocentric hierarchy (“Tightrope Walker”). Musical Chairs is serious music not meant to be taken too seriously, a playful act of resistance, a meditation on the good and bad of this world, and ultimately a  remarkable statement on the continuing growth of Artificial Go. -Ben Michaelisartificial