Vancouver punks Nu Sensae have filled out considerably since their last EP Tea Swamp Park. It's not that they've gotten fat or overwrought, just added a new member, a guitarist who gives their sound some balance like a tripod. Daniel Pitout's drums are less abusive, Andrea Lukic's vocals sound less like glass shattering into a thousand pieces, and even though those low-maintenance, abrasive aspects of Nu Sensae were great, we're loving their new, fuller incarnation. "Swim" is poppier (you could almost even imagine it on Top 40 radio in a better time and place), but Lukic could never hide how truly dejected she sounds, like she's the most disgusted girl on the entire planet. And even if Pitout's insane drums are pitched a little lower in the mix, it's like trying to put a silencer on a machine gun—the punch is still packed. "Swim" is off of their forthcoming August 7 release, Sundowning.
Download: Nu Sensae, "Swim" (via Spin)