With News from Planet Zombie, The Notwist return to view after years of exploration and experiment with an album rich in both melancholy and positivity, sketched across a suite of thrilling, fiercely committed pop songs. It’s an album reflecting a chaotic world, but responding with warmth and generosity, to achieve creative and spiritual consolidation.

Recorded in their home base of Munich, it reconnects with the security of the local to explore the troubles of the global: a guiding impulse writ large across this album’s eleven songs. It’s also the first studio album since 1995’s 12 that the band recorded together in the studio in its expanded live formation. Now, The Notwist are not best known for cover versions, but News from Planet Zombie features two: a gorgeous version of Neil Young’s “Red Sun” (from 2000’s Silver & Gold), which the group originally developed for a theatre play directed by Jette Steckel, in addition to “How the Story Ends.”

Both songs slot into the album’s narrative perfectly, nestling in like old friends, revealing The Notwist as poetic interpreters. Played well, the cover version is both acknowledgement of fellow travelers and act of generosity, and The Notwist nail both aspects here. Planet Zombie was recorded over one week at Import Export, a non-profit space for arts and music. You can tell, too; there are some pleasingly rough edges here, as though The Notwist’s striving for hazy perfection means they’re also confident enough to let the songs breathe and mutate between our ears.