Back in 2021 we bestowed Album Of The Week honors of Always Something, a garage-rocking, power-popping delight from Gainesville band UV-TV. Today they’re back with news of a new album, and it sounds like quite the departure.

The Optimistic Wrench, coming in October, is just six songs long, which might lead some of us to categorize it as an EP. But UV-TV are presenting it as a major creative statement, and from the sounds of its title track, it just might be. The song slows down this band’s usual hard-charging tempo and ramps up the cartoon party energy, tapping into a more plastic and rhythm-forward version of new wave that reminds me of Talking Heads and the B-52s. They’re also claiming the influence of ’60s exotica and lounge music, which I guess I can hear in there too. “Sepia skies where the pendulum lies,” Rose Vastola begins. “I see you’re still doing nothing with the time of your life.” No such allegations could be lodged against UV-TV; they’ve clearly made good use of their years away.

Listen below while you marvel at that killer album art.

TRACKLIST:
01 “Pale Blue Island”
02 “Dust”
03 “Only Kind Words”
04 “Stunned And Graceless”
05 “The Optimistic Wrench”
06 “Untold Truths”

The Optimistic Wrench is out 10/11 on PaperCup/No Non Fiction. Pre-order it here.