Fitz and The Tantrums stage a 2010s galaxy print revival on a record that is mostly bleary platitudes…but is perversely comforting in its consistency.

Neon teal. Maroon 5. Old Navy back to school ads. Galaxy print. Perhaps we will sidestep a recession (note: we won’t) because from the looks of Fitz and The Tantrums’ new album, we’ve sailed right past Recession Revival and into the 2010s. The indie pop outfit’s sixth album is more of the same from them, in ways that are at once nauseatingly stuck and heartwarmingly consistent. They just keep doing their weird little thing!

The choices on this album fall into two camps: Flanderized Fitz and mixing it up. Starting with the first camp: off the rip, first track “The Good The Bad The Ugly” slams us into a 2017 Old Navy commercial. The Tantrums sound like AJR, who themselves sound like if Jon Bellion soundtracked Five Nights at Freddy’s. The following title track is a little catchier, but I could have sworn they released this song before. I was last chronically listening to Fitz and The Tantrums in 2018, and it seems like they’ve been copying and pasting most of the same audio tracks in Ableton since then. Now they’re a tad more lethargic (the Trump era ages us all…) but might as well be time travelers from 2017 jetlagged from the trip. “Umbrella” sounds like late Glee fodder, a la when the redshirt characters we didn’t care about did Neon Trees. All this is to say, it’s classic Fitz and The Tantrums: hyperactive production, seeing teal, rousing lyrics (what we’re supposed to be roused towards, nobody could say).

As is custom on a Fitz and The Tantrums album, lyrics are mostly haphazardly collaged platitudes. They’re kind of abstract, vaguely symbolic of…something, generically motivational. “Wake up wake up better rise and shine! Not gonna run, not gonna hide!” Frontman Michael Fitzpatrick sings on “Young Days.” “These are the days that we fight to take life off our shoulders! There’s nothing more that’s better than this!”…What? On “OK OK OK” a nicely purring prechorus gets trampled by a “PUT YOUR HANDS UP IN THE SKY LIKE!!” On closer “One Day,” we’re treated to 2010s stomp clap motivational drums, who you may know as the “I Lived” drums or “Anything Can Happen” drums. Most of the record sounds like a song that an overly enthusiastic CEO of a small company sings in a Marriott conference room to hype up his crowd of toilet handle salesmen. It’s Bitcoin conference music.

As for “mixing it up,” the moments when co-lead vocalist Noelle Scaggs takes over are delightful. Bringing her timbre to the fore grounds an otherwise kooky sound, especially on tracks like the sultry Maroon 5 derived “Ruin The Night.” Similarly, when tracks chill the hell out, as on “Perfume,” “Waste My Time,” and the Lo Fi Beats To Study To-esque “Motion,” they can be really lovely. Like letting a wine decant (ugh, sorry), when Fitz and The Tantrums let their songs breathe, we see some evolution and maturity. “Motion” in particular errs on the 2020 side of the 2010s to its benefit, taking tools from Ariana Grande’s bedroom pop masterpiece “Positions”: it leisurely undulates and swirls, even incorporating a humble unassuming guitar strum.

But like the show from your childhood that you know your friends won’t get, there’s a certain charm to this outfit that keeps on doing its fistpumpy thing. 2017 was nice in ways. I wasn’t paying taxes then. Nobody was invading Venezuela. You didn’t say “this music sounds like AI,” you said “this music sounds like Fitz and The Tantrums.” In these uncertain times, Fitz and his tantrums are always there, overstuffing their tracks with way too much production, firing off a glitter cannon on the chorus and inspiring listeners to do … really, it is profoundly unclear. Save 10% on back to school essentials at Old Navy, probably. And you know what? I will. Thanks, Tantrums.