††† (Crosses), “PERMANENT.RADIANT.”

Nearly a decade after ††† (Crosses), released their debut LP, the duo of Chino Moreno (Deftones) and Shaun Lopez is back for a new EP with PERMANENT.RADIANT. Moreno and producer-composer Lopez make the musical yin to the Deftones’ yang. This band’s music is built on atmosphere and melody, and is filled with spacey percussion, dark synths and moody ethereal vocals.

On PERMANENT.RADIANT, Moreno and Lopez reference their past while moving forward—which makes sense with bassist Chuck Doom having left the band.

Moreno’s opaque lyricism and the duo’s musical arrangements are complex, exploratory and sometimes downright weird. Moreno’s vocals are deep and melodious, and his harmonies are expansive. The Deftones‘ downtuned riffs and guttural screams are nowhere to be found, which is kind of the point. Crosses are their own band.

The six-song EP opens at its quietest. A sparse synth fuses with choppy electronic percussion and Moreno’s low and lush vocal.

“Don’t want to be here in the dark/ But I believe I’ll always be,” Moreno sings in the second verse of opener “Sensation.”

The harmonies in the chorus are tight and multilayered. Chino Moreno’s tone fits in seamlessly with the sludgy guitar and heavy beats. Lopez expertly dials in each track to fit the mood of the moment, highlighting Moreno’s strengths as a singer.

The dark grooves of “Vivien” occupy the similar quiet space of the opener but quickly explode into an expansive soundscape of synths, guitars and groove-heavy beats. The track fuses nu-metal with dark alt-pop and electronica to create an emotional heaviness. And somehow, the chorus sounds a bit like Britney Spears’ “…Baby One More Time.” Moreno’s dynamic vocal is impressive and shapeshifting. Whether it’s soft or heavy, he seems to find the right delivery for the moment.

“Cadavre Exquis” follows this eeriness but evolves into something different. Rather than leaning into heaviness, it continues to rely on its implied heaviness—there’s no traditional distorted guitars, bass and drums here. It creates an overarching mystery that builds the foundation. It climbs a minor key scale without fully resolving, which will make you feel off balance and leave you for a resolution that never comes. Things get even more exploratory on the much brighter “Day One.” This song hits with a much lighter touch and feels like you’re walking on air, with melodic woodsy percussion and trippy synths. “Day One” is rhythmic and a change of pace from the moody darkness of earlier songs.

The metaphorically uplifting trend continues on the electronic “Holier,” which is more of an alt-pop song built on the foundation of a complex beat that serves as the counterpoint to Moreno’s vocals. There’s little to no guitar to be found here; it builds exclusively through synths—and it’s the most memorable song in the collection.

The EP closes with “Procession,” which showcases Moreno’s vocals via multipart harmonies. The hard rock guitars return but the electronica elements are as strong as elsewhere on the record. It’s a fitting a spot on the EP, closing this brief arc that traverses between dark and light in six songs. Crosses just might be one of the most interesting acts in hard rock.

Roman Gokhman contributed to this story. Follow writer Mike DeWald at Twitter.com/mike_dewald.