The story of an anonymous duo from Quebec performing in oversized papier-mâché masks and full body polka dot costumes playing microtonal math rock is one of the most unlikely breakout narratives in recent memory, but Vol.II absolutely sustains the hype. With sold out tours across three continents it’s funny that they’ve made it this big, but also understandable once you listen because they’re a tremendous amount of fun.

Everyone is talking about the microtonality that gives the guitar its warped slightly Arabic quality, but what’s made this record click with so many people is the rhythm. The punk, funk and danceables grooves behind the kit keep time in a way that’s just familiar enough to latch onto as everything around it behaves unusually. Your brain is trying to decode the patterns and they’re just weird enough to keep you perpetually on edge but familiar enough to groove to, pulling the music from pure experimentalism to somewhere much more fun and accessible. The album opens with Fabienk built around guitar loops that layer and double and evolve into a wall of guitar lines with a solo noodling over the top. Mata Zyklek has more of a punky pace with Arabic intervals, whilst Sarniezz is probably the track that has sent the internet’s analysts into the deepest spiral, switching between triple feels and four four with playfulness. Utzp leans into a mad Eastern European polka energy full of intricate guitar wizardry and Angor closes the album playing twos against threes and shifting between them. It feels a bit like being chased by something in a computer game maze. You’re lost, but you’re having terrific fun. There’s a temptation with a band like this to scratch your chin and analyse what they’re doing, but that’s the wrong approach. This is weird dance music designed for you to just let go and move to it. Objectively bizarre, but irresistibly fun.