Though 2023’s Everyone’s Crushed marked a significant breakthrough for experimental New York pop duo Water From Your Eyes, they didn’t change much in recording its 2025 follow-up, It’s a Beautiful Place. The band, which consists of Rachel Brown and Nate Amos, made the album where they have always recorded: in Amos’ bedroom. The homespun feel doesn’t necessarily lend itself to the sound, though, which finds Water From Your Eyes at their sharpest and most daring.

“Life Signs” imagines a middle ground between post-punk and Anticon-style abstract rap. “Nights in Armor” bursts with crunching guitars and a pummelling floor tom, an atmosphere that moves to the background as layers of Brown’s vocals fight for space amid the chaos. No sound, no concept, no lyric is off-limits for the duo, and it’s exhilarating to witness just how many disparate ideas they consistently attempt to fit into traditional and non-traditional pop structures.