With three razor-sharp albums of post-punk to their name,
Erase Errata didn't need to embellish their legacy. On
Lost Weekend, the group's first new music since the 2010 single
Damaged and their first album since 2006's
Nightlife,
Jenny Hoyston, Ellie Erickson, and Bianca Sparta make it clear that they've returned not out of any sense of obligation, but because they wanted to. This freewheeling spirit can be felt throughout the album: while the final track "Don't Sit/Lie" is a quintessential piece of jittery, searching dance-punk,
Erase Errata don't waste time reheating the past. The trio reunited at Iowa City's Mission Creek Music Festival, improvising and honing the songs that became
Lost Weekend, and the fun they had making the album is almost palpable. This is easily
Erase Errata's most engaging music, with humor and big, unfettered riffs alongside the expected mathy precision. Thanks to the band's slower, more straightforward attack, there's a newfound pummeling insistence to songs like "In Death, I Suffer" and "Scattered Means," one of the most politically charged tracks here. Elsewhere, they lighten and loosen up in a way that recalls the way
Mary Timony streamlined her music on
Ex Hex's
Rips. The sardonic pop sensibilities that began surfacing on
Nightlife come to the fore on "History of Handclaps," where
Hoyston sings "What is the history of the clap/You know, the action that we like to do?" with a wink, as equally jangly and angular guitars circle the trumpet and bass; later, "My Life in Shadows" recalls
the Raincoats' gifts for pairing drolly introspective lyrics with head-noddingly catchy music.
Hoyston sounds more charismatic and nuanced than ever on "Galveston (Dark Tides)," which almost feels like
Erase Errata's version of a power ballad, and "Watch You're Language," a more poetic expression of "Scattered Means"' paranoia given extra sophistication with some eerie backing vocals. Any one of these songs would have been a standout on
Erase Errata's previous albums, making
Lost Weekend an extremely concise, rewarding, and welcome return. ~ Heather Phares