Ebbb’s best trick might be knowing when to drop the trick. The London trio — Lev Ceylan, Will Rowland, Scott MacDonald — built their name on left-field electronics with glitch in its DNA, but “Public,” released October 8 on Ninja Tune, is their most overtly beautiful moment: hallucinogenic dream-pop textures floating under Will Rowland’s unearthly, choirboy-like vocal. The sharp edges are traded for something smoother, and the trade pays off.

It’s their first music since July’s debut album *Shallow Hits*, and it reads as a deliberate pivot — a song about confronting fears and moving forward that sounds like the moving-forward part. The production lets the vocal carry the weight, and Rowland’s voice has never been used this tenderly. For a band that toured Europe with Shame and hit Truck, End of the Road, Latitude, The Great Escape and Pitchfork Music Festival Paris, this is a confident new register, not a softening.

The road ahead is busy: a UK headline tour runs November 25 to December 1 (Sheffield, Glasgow, Manchester, Leeds, Bristol, London), followed by a European run December 3–16 spanning Paris, Essen, Brussels, Cologne, Kortrijk, Utrecht, Hamburg, Berlin, Prague, Munich and Düdingen. That’s a band operating at full tilt, and “Public” is the sound of them opening a new door mid-stride.

Originality has always been Ebbb’s calling card — this site’s criteria were practically written for acts like this — and “Public” proves they can do beauty without sacrificing strangeness. One of the week’s most distinctive listens.

Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGHoD5Dj8h8

Rating: 4.5/5