Auckland band Trust Punks return with their sophomore album and in the process they’ve tightened their sound, ratcheted up the tension and broadened their interpretation of post-punk.

On 2014’s Discipline they mixed jangling guitars and sparkling, ramshackle melodies and, though those are still a key part of the mix, they’ve now emboldened their sound with a brasher rhythmic attack while bringing in seemingly contradictory sounds such as a xylophone on ‘The Reservoir’.

Their sense of urgency is at the forefront on ‘Good Luck With That’. It’s a rapid-fire, two-minute indie punk song, bristling with melody and intent – in a similar vein to fellow countrymen Die! Die! Die! The editing and arrangements also mark the band out as forward thinking musicians, never content to sit in the box. Instead they kick out the sides and re-fashion it into new, unpredictable shapes. ‘Leaving Room For The Lord’ shows they can push things right into the red with it’s eviscerating, repeated and yelled, chorus of desperation.

Double Bind is also an album that keeps on giving. From the drunken deconstructed waltz of ‘Lawrence’ to the disorienting yet sweet wooziness of ‘Beneath The Commons’, the band keep twisting and manipulating relatively simple songs into inventive musical shapes. That’s the key here and they find just the right balance every time.

This is the type of progressive punk rock that bands like Fugazi, Straitjacket Fits and Sunny Day Real Estate furthered in the 90s and in 2016 Trust Punks are again leading the charge with distinction.

Chris Familton