You don’t just casually start listening to mewithoutYou’s music. For starters, their brand of post-punk is never less than bracing, and never more so than on Catch for Us the Foxes, their sophomore album (and my favorite). The album’s twelve songs constantly feel like they’re on the verge of flying apart from the barely contained chaos within.

Rickie Mazzotta’s drumming is relentless while Michael Weiss and Christopher Kleinberg strike up a dual guitar attack. And then there’s Aaron Weiss’s unhinged voice and overwrought lyrics, which are filled with desperation as he laments his besetting sins. “Besides, how else could I confess?/When I looked down like if to pray/Well, I was looking down her dress” he cries out, a perfect post-hardcore summation of Paul’s sentiment in Romans 7:15 – 20.

Weiss’ lyrics can be a bit much, but on “The Soviet” — and by extension, the rest of Catch for Us the Foxes — he sings every word with an undeniable conviction that’s further enhanced by his bandmates’ sonic maelstrom.