Years & Years — Night Call

The third album from England's Years & Years, 2022's sleek and hooky Night Call, is singer Olly Alexander's first production since the departure of founding members Mikey Goldsworthy and Emre Türkmen. Amiably citing creative differences that grew more apparent during the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns, the trio split in 2021, purportedly scrapping a finished album and paving the way for Alexander to push forward on his own. The result is a diamond-sharp production rife with disco-hot bangers that evoke the classic work of artists like Giorgio Moroder, Michael Jackson, and the Real McCoy. It's a frothy, throw-back aesthetic that fits perfectly with Alexander's charismatic persona and highly resonant vocal style even as it is admittedly a stylistic shift away from the arty electronica that helped win the group a BBC Sound of 2015 award. While there's certainly a more direct pop quality to Alexander's work here, the album is no less finely attuned than his past work. Helping him make