After giving fans a taste of their explosive live show with last year’s HEADROOM, the Long Island, N.Y.-based quartet returns with a new album of meditative, spacey prog-rock, the appropriately titled Sir Nebula. The group’s third studio album finds the band settling even further into their style and cohesiveness, with aid from veteran producer Robert Carranza, whose eclectic résumé includes credits ranging from Jack Johnson to The Mars Volta, and who has been at the helm for all of TAUK’s studio efforts since their debut LP. “This time around, it feels like we know how we approach things,” guitarist Matt Jalbert said during the sessions with Carranza. “I feel a looseness that this album has, compared to the other ones—we are letting things breathe a bit, rather than forcing things to happen.” That sort of ease comes through from the beginning of the record and throughout, in the rapid-fire guitar of opening track “Horizon” and in the piercing synth lines from Alric “A.C.” Carter. “Time’s Up” features melodic guitar coupled with some reggae-tinged grooves and fierce fills from bassist Charlie Dolan, while the slow-burning “Resolve” highlights the strengths of all four members, notably drummer Isaac Teel, with a more restrained, jazzy number. The following track, the eight-and-a-half-minute- long “Darkwing,” opens with a somewhat unexpected grand-piano intro and features multiple builds, including a climax with a distorted, staccato synth tone that sounds downright otherworldly.