Clearlake

Photo: Courtesy of Domino Records

The first track on Clearlake's third album, "No Kind of Life," doesn't prepare the listener for the ride ahead. Its buzzing, distorted guitars and new-wave vocals sound like the prelude to another mediocre entry in the crowded field of unremarkable electronic-laden pop-rock. But by track two, "Getting Light Outside," the Brighton, England, quintet is embarking on a brilliant rock & roll representation of staying out way too late, complete with angst, excitement and animal instinct.

Much like a long night on the town, Amber stays dreamlike even while growing darker as it wears on. Sinewy strings carry the countermelody on "Getting Light Outside," a platonic love song. A couple of tracks later, on "Good Clean Fun," jagged guitars become a roughed-up antidote to soothing harmonies, and by the following song, "Here to Learn," the lilting vocals are all but drowned in lurching, entrancing riffs, like a reveler lost in pre-dawn haze.

Our night crawler finds a moment of clarity on "Finally Free," a perfect pop ditty with Kinksian stomp, fidgety feedback and simple lyrics ("Finally free to say what you see / And get what you need / And know you can be"). Another catchy number, "I Hate It, I Got What I Wanted," cooks up a driving beat on a chorus that brings home the song's musings on fickleness. The longer, dirgeful closer, "Widescreen," takes on the arc of an epic lullaby and makes for the perfect comedown from an evening's adventures.—Cristina Black