The follow-up to 2019's power pop-leaning Natural, Everyday Degradation, A Portrait of an Ugly Man sees the Minnesota group continue to distance themselves from their D.I.Y./emo-revival past with a taut ten-song set that looks to brooding post-punk and snappy, spring reverb-licked indie rock for inspiration. Led by siblings Erik (vocals/guitar) and Stephen Paulson (bass), Remo Drive's bleak/cool aesthetic and wry lyrics evoke the Smiths by way of Hot Fuss-era Killers, but the production feels muted and flat, and frontman Erik Paulson, who can craft some real zingers (references to The Dark Crystal, the Apple Genius Bar, and Silence of the Lambs abound), often struggles to rise above the murky sonic din. The '90s indie rock ambiance does yield a handful of gems, with the snappy "A Guide to Live By" and "True Romance Lives," and the winking "Night I Kidnapped Remo Drive" -- all of which lean hard into the sweaty, late-summer-night garage rock stylings of bands like Franz Ferdinand and the Strokes -- leading the charge. Despite a paucity of anything resembling an earworm, Portrait of an Ugly Man isn't a bad record at all, especially when listened to in full, which allows its dark charms the room they need to establish a vibe. Remo Drive have struggled to define their sound since appearing on the scene in 2018 with the bracing and presumptuous Greatest Hits. In attempting to strike a balance between the raw, emo-punk approach of their debut with the more streamlined indie rock of Natural, Everyday Degradation, they've revealed that their biggest problem isn't settling on an identifiable sound, it's their inability to write a truly memorable song.