Illuminati Hotties: Power review – melody-rich, fat-free indie rock

Not content with a career as a Grammy-winning engineer and producer (her credits include Boygenius, Slowdive and Weyes Blood), since 2017 Sarah Tudzin has also been releasing her own songs under the Illuminati Hotties alias. Power is her first album in three years, during which time she has processed a series of life-upending events (the death of her mother; new love) while working on other people’s records. That period away from her solo project has paid dividends: there is a real lightness of touch to these 13 fat-free and immaculately presented slices of melody-rich indie rock.

Lead single Can’t Be Still – about the spiritual restlessness that seems to define modern life for so many people – builds smoothly from its simple opening riff before demonstrating how Tudzin knows her way around a winning chorus. The cheerfully breezy Sleeping In is as delightful and effortless-sounding as the Cardigans were until they discovered melancholia. The mid-paced Falling in Love With Somebody Better, meanwhile, is a slick kiss-off to an ex. Elsewhere, she channels the Breeders and Mitski to fine effect. Throughout, there’s a pleasing directness to Tudzin’s songwriting, with one succinct banger following another. A joy.