Purity Ring took no time in winning us over. Their 2012 debut, Shrines, was a shining combination of some of the most ear-luring production and synth-pop songwriting of the first half of the 2010s. Before too long they were flying full-throttle at major music festivals and getting some feature time with new alt-rap overlord Danny Brown on his Old album. However, their follow-up, Another Eternity (4AD) may not reach the same level of acclaim, if only for not being as innovative.

For Another Eternity vocalist Megan James and producer Corin Roddick were finally able to inhabit the same physical space to record, whereas they had to work on much of Shrines remotely. From the quick-shifting, start-stop tempos to the dense synth chord arrangements that have become a staple in outsider dance music, the album mines all of its predecessor’s traits. The edge, albeit a blunt one, to Another Eternity is its drum tracks. Songs like “Stranger Than Earth” and “Dust Hymn” have beats so infectious that they nearly overshadow any melody James puts forth. There’s an argument to be made that any Purity song showcases equal amounts of depth and hook, but clearly they’ve tapped into something greater in beat-making—a quality that an artist like the aforementioned Brown has already picked up on.

Another Eternity shouldn’t be pinned as falling short of Shrines’ ingenuity. Everything that made Purity Ring a pressing listen in 2012 is contained herein too, but the 2015 effort reveals the sadly obvious: Shrines and Another Eternity could’ve reversed their order of release and whichever came first would’ve been the higher praised one.