MisterWives, “Nosebleeds.”

Imagine the nicest person you know. Somebody who is fun, outgoing and is always looking at the bright side. Now imagine that person’s cool composure snaps, they walk out on the dance floor and smack the absolute tar out of someone while ’80s-synths and pop-rock guitar distortion blares in the background. This is the kind of energy that MisterWives capture on their latest album, Nosebleeds.

MisterWives have had a tough couple of years.

Since 2015, the band’s been a mainstay of the indie pop scene. They’ve toured the world with bands like Twenty One Pilots, Panic at the Disco, Bleachers, Paramore and basically every poppy act that’s ever played Warped Tour. Vocalist Mandy Lee presents an earnest, kind, awkward/funny persona that would make anyone who had an emo phase in middle school feel instantly comfortable and at home.

But in 2020, Lee and drummer Etienne Bowler divorced after almost nine years together. The story was encapsulated on their last album, Superbloom. The next year, keyboardist Jesse Blum left the band and MisterWives were unceremoniously dropped by Fueled by Ramen.

Any one of these events might end a band. But, true to form, MisterWives have come out the other side, stronger. (Y’know, like Lee wrote about on the last album).

But the band’s sound has changed tremendously since its last album. If Superbloom was about weathering difficult times with grace and finding the beautiful parts of an emotionally charged situation with upbeat pop, Nosebleeds is the complete opposite. On their latest, MisterWives seem to be finally letting out three years of pent-up rage in a more aggressive sound that—while still technically pop—sounds more pissed off and angst-driven than any of their previous material.

Nosebleeds is the kind of album that wants to challenge your expectations from the beginning. Opener “Out Of Your Mind” begins with a lone heavily distorted guitar riff. And then the drums, vocals and backing instrumentation all join at once about three seconds in. The following track, “Dagger,” similarly attempts to jar you with its opening riffs as dissonant guitar notes measure their time to the quick crashing of drums.

Overall, these tracks are confrontational and even though their intros are abrupt, they aren’t off-putting because the song structure itself is still pop-oriented and catchy. There’s something very bold to using an intro this noisy to grab listeners’ attention. One could say these songs mark the first forays into a punk sound not yet explored by MisterWives, but one they have clearly been working on in their off-hours.

After fourth track “All the Same,” the album falls back on MisterWives’ signature sound and begins to sound more like their previous work. The quick drumming, guitar distortion and piercing vocals are traded out for the more familiar melodically sweet vocals and keyboard synths that made the band successful. Even so, the lyrical subject matter stays squarely in the bitterness zone and fuzzed-out guitar solo still makes an appearance every now and then. Even on “Sideways,” which sounds like an upbeat dance tune pulled straight from the ’80s, has lyrics that are snarky and sardonic.

“I’m a tickin’ tickin’ time bomb/ Keep makin’ everybody happy, fuck what I want,” Lee sings.

Nosebleeds sees MisterWives trying a lot of different things, sonically. Besides the obvious differences in instrumentation, some vocal effects appear on tracks for a bridge or a verse only to never be seen again. During the bridge of the title track, Mandy Lee’s vocals have a modulation over them that bring to mind the best vocal effects from Sylvan Esso. On “End of My Rope,” Lee’s vocals are looped, given more reverb and then pitched up and down to be used as a transition between verses.

It’s almost as if two albums exist here: one more experimental, bold and aggressive, and another that’s more traditional and battle-tested. Perhaps it’s because Nosebleeds is the first album MisterWives are releasing independently. But imagine if MisterWives went further with this new sound, Lee screaming her heart out among the crash of chaotic drumming and overdriven guitars. Imagine that not only do they successfully nail a more aggressive, pop-punk sound, but stick the landing into a new area of their songwriting.

Nosebleeds isn’t so much one complete album as it is MisterWives trying out a lot of new stuff. Fans will be pleasantly surprised by how much they like that new stuff.