After the success of their last album, Citrus, Asobi Seksu’s attempts to better My Bloody Valentine's Loveless at its own shoegazing guitar game are over. While the duo is from Brooklyn, they might as well have recorded Hush in nearby Yasgur's Farm, for all the airy imagery the pair conjure will transport you to Woodstock’s verdant fields of sonic love. Yuki Chikudate's ethereal and dreamy vocals are front and centre here, whether on the Sigur Ros-esque “Gliss” or the pure pop of “Transparence.” James Hanna's muscular and robust guitar work takes a backseat, only to return in full strength on “Me & Mary,” the album’s penultimate track.

Hush is happy to tone down the guitar fuzz in order to bring melody, tone and texture to the fore. Asobi Seksu are still a “noise” band, but this time the noise they’re after isn't all distortion and reverb, as on “Glacially.” It stems from the interplay between the music and Chikudate's sometimes whimsical vocals, seemingly borrowing this time from the Cocteau Twins. It gives the album a fleeting quality that will elude listeners expecting either a full-on guitar explosion or a return to pure melody. Instead, songs like "In the Sky" allow all sense of meaning to slip through your fingers, lost in the air. At one point, Chikudate sings “We can laugh our heads off/ and no one understands,” a sentiment that might leave them to play second fiddle to less misunderstood hometown bands like Blonde Redhead. However, Hush finds Asobi Seksu more confident in their songwriting abilities and all the better for it.