David Campbell and Andrew Doig formed Nightshift in Glasgow two years ago as a noisy no wave project in thrall to Sonic Youth and This Heat, but as the lineup expanded, it quickly evolved into something else. The group crafted their 2020 self-titled debut in their practice space, showcasing an intriguing blend of post-punk and psych-pop sounds. The next album, titled Zöe, was pieced together remotely during the pandemic, under the influence of Rosi Bradiotti’s book The Posthuman and restraints the band compares to Brian Eno’s Oblique Strategies. “The process of writing these songs separately during lockdown was a kind of exquisite corpse,” singer Eothen Stern says. “I liked this gesticulation of reaching out to one another and responding. Building up the next layer and passing it on.”

Zöe is dropping next month on the esteemed Chicago label Trouble In Mind, who shared its excellently twitchy, woodwind-tinged lead single “Make Kin” last month. Today Nightshift are back with another advance track, a hypnotic seven-minute journey called “Power Cut.” “If you close, close your eyes/ Do you have a power cut?” Stern sings in an art-damaged moan straight out of the late ’60s. “Off the grid/ Yes I live/ Off the grid.” It reminds me of when Yo La Tengo stretch out and tap into a vibe, except trippier and more avant-garde, with shades of Cate Le Bon and her pals Deerhunter, whose “He Would Have Laughed” is evoked by the recurring guitar riff here. The way this breathes and flows, you’d never guess they weren’t in the room together.

Watch director Rob Alexander’s “Power Cut” video below, where you can also hear “Make Kin.”

Zöe is out 2/26 on Trouble In Mind. Pre-order it here.