When IDLES announced “Dancer,” the lead single from the follow-up to 2021's Grammy-nominated “CRAWLER,” there was something lurking beneath their usual brash demeanor. Beyond guest vocals by LCD Soundsystem regulars, the track tantalizingly hinted at an expanded palette, especially in the dramatic opening string section. Joe Talbot's spitting vocals were still there, but there was something more, something new and distinctly different. That vice is fully explored throughout TANGK, a record that dances between the defining visceral post-punk of IDLES' career thus far and a newfound delicate swarm. Opener 'IDEA 01' unfolds as a perverse Sigur Rós, while single 'Grace' and sing-along 'A Gospel' deliver the Bristol 5, which the explosive charge of debut song 'Brutalism' could hardly have imagined. Revealing one side of Hitogumi. “Don't get me wrong, IDLES hasn't gone soft…” says the record's accompanying biography, which suggests that this record is more about singing than spoken word and more about melody than scathing rants. On the surface, this contradicts what happened. But despite embracing love as an underlying theme and portraying Joe and his friends as their unique blend of happy, “TANGK” falls under its broad musical spectrum. It has a certain hardness. “Hall & Oates” has distortion ringing out over the gang’s rallying vocals, and “Thank You” swirls to a raucous crescendo. If love is a theme here, it's quickly overshadowed by a balanced ferocity unlike anything the idols have experienced before. This makes their fifth record appear as a jarring clash between two disparate tones, due in part to the songwriter's polarizing influences, but the battle within it is unmistakably Redirect to discover beauty and connection that is not there. By the final moments of the eerie “Monolith,” all is revealed. This is love, but through the unmistakable eyes of our idols.