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When I included this Chapel Hill, NC quintet’s sumptuous single “Blossoms” in my 9/22/13 Top 10 list, I was unaware they were about to release this digital-only, seven-song mini-LP three days later. But lo and behold, Blood is every bit as fantastic as the single! In fact, it even bests their otherwise superb third and fourth LPs, 2011’s Preludes and 2012’s Vexations, for two reasons. First, IWTDI’s anthemic, ‘80s/90s-influenced alterna-rock and atmospheric dreampop is markedly tighter and heftier on Blood, and they’ve abandoned their tendency to meander into softer styles. Fueled by Joe Mazzitelli’s rumbling bass and James Hepler’s battering ram drumming, the band never stray from their aggressive attack, so each song packs a huge wallop. Nowhere is this more apparent than on the dark, driving, Nada Surf-like standout “Lossst,” which accelerates with invigorating tension and thrust.
Second, Rachel Hirsh has wrangled away sole lead vocal duties from her co-singer John Booker, and her presence and command have improved tenfold. Her powerful pipes continually raise eyebrows, whether she’s displaying a comely folk-rock trill on “If They Saw You,” belting friskily and seductively on the danceable “The Devil is a Lie,” or coolly reprimanding a lover on the shoegaze-y “The Down Swing.” Finally, as I noted in that Top 10, the closing “Blossoms” moves through its six minutes at a stately pace, with Booker’s and Curtis Armstead’s dense thickets of guitars, heavy, plodding drums, and an icy organ lurching around Hirsh’s dreamy, breathy crooning. Now six years into their career, IWTDI are making music commensurate with their immodest moniker.
