Principal San Fermin orchestrator Ellis Ludwig-Leone is no stranger to classical-inflected grandiosity. With songs like the breakout “Sonsick” off of 2013’s self-titled debut, his band has proven itself capable of blowing the roof off with its chamber pop. On Sam Fermin, they blended catchy, choir-like vocal lines backed with a wide breadth of instrumentation provided by 20-some musicians, resulting in a collection of music overwhelmingly pleasant. And as Sam Fermin’s follow-up, Jackrabbit (Downtown Records), illustrates, it isn’t an easy feat to continuously make such music.

On Jackrabbit, Ludwig-Leone dabbles with a new brand of subdued experimentation without making a complete departure; where the record’s predecessor recalled Sufjan Stevens and Dirty Projectors, Jackrabbit is more in line with Zammuto and The National. With his deep voice, singer Allen Tate drives the Matt Berninger comparison home on “Woman in Red,” a tune that gets gradually more pummeling as Tate delivers greater yearning for the titular title character. (A key phrase of the chorus is “can’t expect a man not to fantasize.”) Elsewhere, Ludwig-Leone utilizes Sam Fermin’s horn section to jarringly emphasize conflict. Case-in-point is “Parasites,” a piece where Tate plays vocal tango with the album’s other singer, Charlene Kaye, while a bluegrass-flecked fiddle line bashes against squelching horns, killing any moment of clarity in melody.

Ludwig-Leone largely uses the same timbres as on San Fermin, but he chooses to apply them minimally on the short segues throughout the album. The brighter hues are provided by Kaye, as when she belts out the album’s most pronounced melody on the title track, as well as the should-be hit “Philosopher.” The huge choruses of both songs prove problematic, though, as they sort of contradict the rest of the album. As a result, they don’t hit as hard as their counterparts on Sam Fermin and are indicative of Jackrabbit’s shortcomings. Albeit a difficult act to follow, this record simply doesn’t evoke the same power as its predecessor.