23 by Blonde Redhead

23, Blonde Redhead's seventh studio album, arrived on 4AD in April 2007, and it's the sound of the New York trio letting the noise rock of their early records melt into dream pop and shoegaze shimmer. Kazu Makino and the Pace twins, Amedeo on guitar and Simone on drums, produced it themselves, chasing spontaneity and clarity instead of picking every idea apart, and the result floats: Makino's voice drifting through swirling guitars and keyboards, the rhythms steady underneath.

Getting there was no picnic. Simone found it nerve-racking to start recording with only sketches of songs, Amedeo said nobody knew where the album was heading until the mixing, and Makino admitted that with no producer to referee, the three of them got on each other's nerves. Mitchell Froom dropped in for a few days to help on "Silently" and "Top Ranking", and Alex Gross painted the cover. The title track is the one on the countdowns.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.