Unsolved Mysteries kicks off the second album by The Rational Academy, with haunting progressions and constancy of rhythm, that channel a little bit of the spirit of Simon & Garfunkel. It grabs the listener, and threatens not to let go. The energy of the first track quickly drops back to an ambient sound that reminds us why they were so successful as Deerhunter’s support act earlier this year.

By the time the fourth track, Hammer, rolls around, the cyclical bass and slow layering of instruments returns a little more energy back to album. The semi-regular change in musical direction in between tracks is an indication of their expertise: it doesn’t disrupt the flow of sound, but rather creates an overall arch of songs, peaceful at times, but also with moments that are uncomfortably avant-garde.

Summer Husbands is dreamy and romantic, somewhat less atonal than many of the tracks on the album. It’s quickly followed by Satan, which again takes the album around a corner into a more fun and slightly forceful noise.

Listening to Swans, one can’t help but be captured by a sense of wonder. The Rational Academy’s crafty grasp of their medium, combined with some other-worldly element that has crept into the music (possibly through electronic transmissions), ensures that the album is a conglomeration of angular melodies and sustained thoughts. Even the title of the album suggests a maturing stage that the band’s members have gone through.

It may not reach fans outside its genre just yet, but having made the right impressions with the right people so far, The Rational Academy has a bright future ahead.