Grooms’ Exit Index combines the abandon of pop with the unease of American life in 2017, cloaking its hooks in a clamor of samples and distortion, its agitation expressed in its dream-poetry lyrics. The album as a whole is a study in contrasts—light meeting dark, amplifier fuzz surrounding big melodies, sampled friction squaring off with fluidly played basslines and tightly wound rhythms. Album opener “The Directory” shrouds itself in synth-dappled mist until singer-guitarist Travis Johnson, backed by ghostly harmonies, asks with increasing intensity, “Where are my millions, my millions, my millions?” “Dietrich,” meanwhile, pins itself on a steady bassline, its guitars whirling into a maelstrom as Johnson sings promises of fealty to a far-away target.
