Very few records have hit me quite like Warpaint’s 2014 self-titled. In the eight years since, I’ve searched far and wide to satisfy my lust for another album that offered the same dreamy melodies, dancy grooves, transcendent atmospheres, and just overall vibe. And for the most part, I’ve been unable to find anything—even among the other entries of their catalog.

But, it’s been six years since the LA quartet has released an album. And in that time, the members’ lives have moved on in their own directions, with moves to different cities, new musical projects, and new children getting in the way of the band even before the pandemic.

With so many forces pulling the band apart, it would be easy to just call it a day and go their own ways. But that possibility ended up invigorating the four women, inspiring an album that is a return to form in more ways than one.

When a painter is working on a piece, they often come to a point where they have to remove themselves from the nose-to-canvas myopia of their brushstrokes and step back to see the picture from afar. It’s a useful practice, and can help them refine their ideas of what the piece is supposed to be. On Radiate Like This, it feels like Warpaint was able to get a bird’s eye view of their body of work, getting a clearer picture of their voice. The result is maybe the most focused record in their discography.

All of the elements that made me fall in love with Warpaint are here: the liquid guitars, the hip-hop-inspired drum beats, the deep basslines, the velvety melodies, and desert-vast atmospheres. This time around, they’re augmented by bleeping synths and sequencers, without ever feeling like they’re shifting into synthpop (which was much of why Heads Up didn’t grab me). Instead, those electronic touches are there to expand the dark, trippy sonic palette. Even the synthiest tracks are slinking and mysterious, such as the menacing tango of “Hips” or the ukulele-tinged closer “Send Nudes.” There’s even a rich slathering of 90s R&B, which is immediately evident in the opening moments of the first track “Champion.”

The album was written and recorded separately, but you’d never be able to tell unless you were told. The interplay between the different instruments has always been one of Warpaint’s trademarks, and they’re just as intricately interdependent here. From the skittering polyrhythms of “Hips” to the piano-led syncopation of the Radioheady “Trouble” to the synth-bass voodoo of “Proof,” the arrangements are perfectly chosen.

Regaining the momentum and chemistry you once had after a time apart is a struggle for any band—I know by experience. But coming back with a record that doesn’t just recapture that energy but expands on it is almost a miracle. But with Radiate Like This, Warpaint might have pulled off the biggest miracle yet: putting out a record that can stand next to the self-titled.

Radiate Like This is out May 6th through Rough Trade.

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