A sister can be so many things – a sibling, a nun, a gay guy with whom you share a casual acquaintanceship. A sister is a promise. The angel and the devil on your shoulder; an emotional support and a partner in crime.

On Frost Children’s new record, SISTER, sibling-duo Angel and Lulu Prost make a return to form, updating their penchant for the stylings of Skrillex and 3OH!3 with the crisp melodies honed on Hearth Room – “The new sound coming to save you”, as they describe it on “ELECTRIC”. Moreso, SISTER is a testament to the grounding and transformative power of their creative partnership, one that rendered two misfits into clear-eyed trendsetters.

The album opener, “Position Famous”, introduces the stakes of the record. It’s a looping examination of Angel and Lulu’s notoriety, which has left them surrounded by copycats and agitators. The naval-gazing premise is delivered with braggadocio; very emo in spirit. The title-track offers additional context in the form of an origin story, lending climactic significance to them playing in their backyard, dying their hair, and leaving home, only to eventually find the way back to one another. “Fuck whatever took you from me / turn around and face me, sister,” the final word sung both sincerely and in cursive.

The strongest tracks on the record are the singles. The crunk-dial is turned to 11 on “Falling”, which features one of the album’s many exhilarating drops, anchored by layers of blaring synthesizers and rattling bass textures. “Bound2U” starts angsty before exploding into a pulsating wall of sound that’s tailor-made for the runway; the type of song you drop your hip and pop a titty to. “WHAT IS FOREVOR FOR” is straight-forward 2010s-EDM, matching the grandeur of the titular question with a shimmering instrumental designed to soundtrack a late-night walk across the Williamsburg Bridge.

Across the record, Frost Children employ a host of direct references, fakeouts, and abrupt sonic pivots. They collide brooding guitar riffs and fat basslines with squelching dubstep passages and layers of gossamer, pitch-shifted vocal chops, amounting to a final product that plays like a DJ-set. They sample themselves on “Bound2U” – specifically the track “Bernadette”. The Kim Petras’ assisted “RADIO” might as well be sampling David Guetta’s “Sexy Bitch” or “Where Them Girls At”, followed by “Don’t Make Me Cry”, which directly quotes the most memorable line from Kurt Cobain’s suicide note. These chaotic transitions, loaded callbacks, and songs-within-songs don’t just shock and entertain, but also serve to mimic the way one’s attention narrows and expands over the course of a night dancing, shifting between inner reflection and outer engagement. But it’s also a little exhausting.

All this said, the record’s consistent high-energy and tonal cohesion doesn’t just require occasional patience, but eventually rewards it with the epic “2LØVE”, an exclamation point on the uneven back third. At moments I found myself missing the twee sentimentalism of “Hearth Room”, but it’s an undeniable thrill to hear Frost Children innovating on the music they first fell in love with.

8.0/10

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