Cloud Nothings‘ newest album, Life Without Sound, is their most cleanly produced and softest effort yet.

Cloud Nothings has blended indie rock, post-hardcore, pop-punk and emo throughout their whole discography. With each album, they shifted the potency of each genre around to create a fresh sound, but none of these influences were ever completely forgotten.

On their first two albums, Turning On and Cloud Nothings, the band focused on combining indie rock, pop-punk and a lo-fi aesthetic. As a result, these albums turned out to be their most energetic and quick-tempoed in their discography.

The next two, Attack on Memory and Here and Nowhere Else, ditched the poppy sound for post-hardcore and emo elements, taking influence from Brand New’s The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me and Drive Like Jehu’s Yank Crime. This is when the band’s sound evolved, using crescendos to create a wide array of dynamics instead of a constant intensity.

Life Without Sound saps that energy by removing the post-hardcore sounds. While it may sound flat initially, the band improves its songwriting to create dynamics without having to get loud.

While most of the songs on this album are just four minutes long, they’re packed with ideas. Because they’re so diverse, they don’t get tiresome; a typical problem for music that lacks diversity in intensity.

Another way Cloud Nothings are able to keep dynamics in their songs is by playing quieter and slower than they ever have before. This may seem contradictory, but when you start a song at such a hushed low, the highs don’t have to be as loud to create a noticeable and interesting change.

Despite being their softest album, it’s the band’s most complex. Cloud Nothings took more time to write and flesh out the details of than ever before. Their lack of boisterous choruses may alienate some fans, but the verses are as catchy as ever and the songwriting has never been so detailed.

Follow writer Michael Massaro at Twitter.com/michaelcmassaro.