With many groups, a reduction in their personnel is often mirrored in a simplification of their sound. In Virginia Wing’s case, their reconfiguration from a trio to a two-piece sees them blossoming from the previously cold, Kosmische palette found on their debut LP Measures of Joy into the wider-reaching, fully focused sound of Forward Constant Motion. The album dives headlong into the synthetic waves that lapped around the edges of their initial work, drawing as much from the compressed thump of Homework-era Daft Punk as the languid new age-isms of Laurie Anderson to create a bold and inventive modern pop record. We felt quite out of our depth when it came to making our first album. For the sake maintaining focus and not completely wrecking our self-esteem, we limited ourselves (in terms of influence) to the sound heard on Measures of Joy,” says Pillay. “This time around, we had the confidence in the fact that we were actually capable of making a full length record so we cast the net a bit wider. More than anything, we wanted this record to expand in every direction: the poppy parts are poppier, the weird parts are weirder, hopefully” Virginia Wing’s strength is in taking recognised pop structures and unearthing the exit points within them. Case in point is lead-off single Grapefruit, which emerges from a cacophony of crackles and hums and drifts in and out of focus, even while clocking in at a lean sub-four minutes...