HOMEY

The Carbon-Hydrogen-Oxygen-Nitrogen kids are back with another mini-album of complex yet accessible twin-guitar exercises, ostensibly Math Rock but played with disarming bounce and brilliance.

As usual it's a very succinct collection: twelve songs in just over 39-minutes. But the reformed quartet (a new bassist appears on half the tracks) stuffs every available inch of the limited performance space with enough music to fill several lesser albums, all of it tightly secured inside a finely knotted mesh of interlocked guitars and busy pinpoint drumwork.

The album's up-to-the-minute digital pop sheen and occasional hip-hop styling might alienate the more conservative old-school Progheads among us. Trendy guest producers were enlisted to dress and manicure a few of the tracks, in at least one instance ("Berry Streets") spoiling a delicate melody with gimmicky dropped beats, distracting fractures, and ultra-hip epileptic edits.

The silver lining is a mood of pristine optimism perfectly timed for our troubled young millennium: the musical equivalent of a day at the beach in San Diego (the band's hometown), sunbathing under cloudless skies. That same warmth is likewise reflected in the album's tropical artwork and sanguine title, which I first read as the more colloquial "Homie". In truth, either name is appropriate: these guys were buddies before they were bandmates.

It's encouraging to hear such invigorating dexterity and breathless instrumental precision in a group of musicians still in their early twenties. The new set may not advance the unique CHON style too far beyond their year 2015 debut album "Grow". But it's an easy effort to recommend, not least for the added perks: the compact disc edition includes a promotional air freshener and, in place of lyrics, a tasty banana nut-loaf recipe from second guitarist Erick Hansel. Food for your mind and stomach: you can't get much more progressive than that.

Even on Chon's very good debut from two years earlier did the threat of stagnation loom, and their sophomore release sounds disappointingly formulaic: well-played, well-constructed, even pleasant to the ears, but ultimately very inessential and a little monotonous. There's not much development from the previous album and not much to distinguish it all from many other math rock acts, except for the few random hip-hop and electropop excursions which (safe perhaps for the amusing cut-and-pasty "Glitch") blend about as well with the rest of the material as oil in water. Highlights include the multi-part "Here And There", and "Wave Bounce" which has a rawer and heavier production style than the squeaky clean production that the other songs invariably sport.