Gang of Youths, “Angel in Realtime.”

In 2018, David Le’aupepe’s father passed away. That loss in itself would’ve been hard to deal with; the Gang of Youths lead singer and lyricist clearly adored the man. But then the half-Samoan musician learned some long-hidden secrets—specifically, that his dad had sired and abandoned two children in New Zealand before moving to Australia. On top of that, he’d let all his relatives think he’d died 40 years ago.

It’d be difficult to make art that tackles such complicated, emotionally fraught material honestly and sensitively. It’d be near-impossible to do that but also make it immediately accessible and even anthemic. On their latest LP, Le’aupepe and his bandmates have done all of the above.

Deeply personal yet all-embracing in spirit, wised up yet overflowing with wonder, Angel in Realtime is an early contender for best album of the year.

The opening song, “You in Everything,” nails down the album’s central themes. Le’aupepe recalls nursing his father on his final days—“An honor/ And a miserable feat”—and asks how he can raise his own kid, “When I’ve spent the better part of my 20s/ Doing self-indulgent bullshit on repeat.” Despite his doubts, he resolves to honor his dad’s memory (the good parts, anyway). Guitars, drums, strings, synths and field recordings of Pacific Islander music swirl and weave like angels come to guide the dearly departed’s soul home. They serve as the glimpse of the divine that the singer seeks here on Earth.

The next track, “In the Wake of Your Leave,” takes the listener higher. Riding atop Donnie Borzestowski’s manic drumming while Tom Hobden’s violin and viola swoon and weep around him, Le’aupepe marvels at the sense of transcendence that ebb and flows inside him as he grieves. When his smooth, strong baritone hits falsetto range, he sounds like he could soar off into the heavens.

The spiritual and the earthy meet on the even more ecstatic “The Angel of 8th Ave.,” an ode to Le’aupepe’s current wife. He may still be a work in progress—he mentions getting “The same old sinking feeling/ Of fuckin’ hammers in my bowels” while job-hunting—but he credits his better half with straightening him out: “A tide of tender mercies/ Shook my body from the grave.” Meanwhile, the rhythm section surges and the guitars jangle and roar with all the passion that Le’aupepe feels for her. By the end, he’s so besotted that he can only chant over and over, “There’s heaven in you now.”

The disillusioned “Returner” offers relief to any cynics who might frown at all this lovey-dovey, spiritual stuff. Le’aupepe lays out just how tired he is of all the showbiz b.s., declaring, “Now I live by a motto… and it’s ‘Fuck you and pay me.’” But even as he flips the entire global music industry the bird, the guy’s basic decency comes through: “And I feel the worst for the ones who love/ The ungrateful bastard I’ve become;/ They shouldn’t have to love me if they don’t want.”

With all that off his chest, Le’aupepe and his wife take a trip to Samoa on the luminous “Unison.” On “Tend the Garden” and “The Kingdom is Within You,” he writes and sings from his father’s point of view, imagining the older man’s hardships, sins, and regrets over bubbling dance beats. Without letting him off the hook, Le’aupepe puts his dad’s deeds in the context of 1960s-1970s New Zealand, a time when Pacific and Maori people endured harsh economic exploitation and racist policing.

On the rueful “Spirit Boy,” a gentle groove carries Le’aupepe along as he roams around London and thinks once more of his father. The solo-piano, devastatingly direct “Brothers” celebrates both the siblings Le’aupepe grew up with and the ones he only met after their dad died. Next comes “Forbearance,” on which a hyper electro-beat does its best to assuage Le’aupepe’s guilt over his days as a “troublesome young kid.”

Gang of Youths shakes off the doldrums with “The Man Himself,” which has Le’aupepe resolving to walk the line for his family. A manic breakbeat, soothing strings and piano, and airy background vocals support his decision.

Angel in Realtime ends with the hymn-like “Hand of God” and the majestic “Goal of the Century.” On these two interconnected songs, Le’aupepe makes peace with the past and embraces the present in all its messy glory. “You wanna know what a life is?” he tells the listener. “Then you take it day by day.”

Follow reporter Ben Schultz at Instagram.com/benjamin.schultz1.