- Two albums into their career, Husky decided it was time for a shake up. New release Punchbuzz is the third album from the Melbourne band and it’s a significant departure from the folk-pop that established the group. With Punchbuzz, Husky has opted for the psychedelic alt-pop sound that pervades modern rock. There's a risk that might seem generic, but the metamorphosis is surprisingly effective, admirable even in how much more they've been able to get out of these standard tropes, and it's akin to the type of permutation that makes bands like Wilco and Radiohead so compelling.

The new direction is salient right off the bat. Opener, Ghost begins with a dense synthesizer that sounds like it was lifted from The War On Drugs. What follows is an up-tempo gem that is a fair indication of what to expect from the rest of the album. Underneath the saturation of dreamy synths and keyboards, Husky Gawenda’s songwriting skills are still highly discernible. No neophyte when it comes to crafting pop hooks, Walking In Your Sleep is a track that could easily be mistaken for a Fleetwood Mac cover.

Fans expecting the Paul Simon-esque folk of the band’s earlier work will be left wanting. In fact, an acoustic guitar doesn’t rear its head until track five on Cut The Air, which begins with simple fingerpicking and ends in a swirling ethereal jam that wouldn’t be out of place on a Tame Impala album. Despite mild fluctuations in timbre, the ten-track effort is meticulously crafted and homogeneous from start to finish. The polished psychedelic sound presented on the first track permeates until the end, with no song bereft of airy synths, electronic beats or echoing keyboards.

Album closer Spaces Between Heartbeats is a highlight. The dark final track shines with nuanced soundscapes that compliment the mood of the lyrics, where Gawenda laments, “I find you in the bloody beat / In the heart of every sleepwalker I meet”. Punchbuzz is singular in its intentions and its ambient conclusion makes you feel like you have woken from a particularly lucid dream. At the risk of becoming predictable and stale, Husky went in a different direction: a gambit that has paid off. Although Punchbuzz might disappoint some fans expecting more of the same, it is sure to secure some new ones.

- Jon Cloumassis.