A year after forming in 2007, Brooklyn's Talk Normal self-released Secret Cog, an EP filled with rigorous beats, post-punk dissonance, and the darkly evocative vocals of guitarist Sarah Register and drummer Andrya Ambro. Echoes of No Wave-era noisemakers-- particularly the dogmatic rants of Lydia Lunch's Teenage Jesus and the Jerks and the urgent abstractions of Ut-- were unmistakable. But the duo also has firm roots in the present New York underground, specifically the noise-rock of veteran trio Sightings, whose Richard Hoffman guested on Secret Cog's best track, "33".

Not long after that debut, Talk Normal signed to Rare Book Room Records, enabling them to record their first LP, Sugarland, with producer and label-owner Nicolas Vernhes. This has naturally brought an increase in clarity and detail, but the band's propensity for thick noise and rhythmic tension hasn't waned. In fact, the essential grit and guts of their music have deepened. Songs and lyrics remain simple-- most tracks feature a repetitive beat and blunt statements like "You had it coming," "Don't shut me down," and, aptly enough, "I believe in structure." But the way the pair rides these patterns to bracing climaxes is deft and relentless. And their eerie horror-movie tone has grown, approaching the cavernous territory first dug out by the early dirges of Sonic Youth and Swans.