When we talked to Saintseneca ringleader Zac Little last month about his Columbus band’s latest record, Such Things, he expanded on the feelings of existentialism that he wanted to explore on the album:

[It’s] in many ways is about consciousness and the physics — the physical nature of consciousness and the various manifestations of that. That’s kind of the broad sense, and then I delve into the various corners of whatever that is. Because consciousness — that’s memory, perception, experience, philosophy, all that stuff.

For an album that’s dealing with such heady concepts, Such Things manages to sound remarkably grounded. There’s an emotive core at the heart of the album that weighs it all the philosophy down with a sense of humanity. As the band traverses between hushed, folkier whispers and their more muscular barn-burning stomp, they create some cutting, satisfying whiplash. The glistening trio of early singles — “Sleeper Hold,” “River,” and “Bad Ideas” — are only some of the many highlights on the record, which is filled with those same kind of deep riffs that you could build a home in, or at least a sturdy tent. It’s a hell of an album — listen below.

Such Things is out 10/9 via Anti-.