DELIVERY Force Majeure (Heavenly) — The second full-length from Delivery can be taken as a last hurrah for the proudly rough-and-ready rock band out of Melbourne, Australia. Force Majeure was recorded with the same version of the band that graced their 2022 debut, Forever Giving Handshakes. In the time since the final mix was approved, personnel tumult took over and three-fifths of the band made for the exits. Guitarist James Lynch and bassist Bec Allen, both of whom pitch in on vocals, are the two who remain. If that rouses suspicions that the resulting album sounds like an act cracking apart, feel free to tamp down those worries. Force Majeure roars with purpose. Opener “Digging the Hole” sets the standard; it has a Buzzcocks punch that then downshifts on the bridge before jittering back to the original energy level, establishing unpredictability as the album’s most dependable quality. “The New Alphabet” could have sprung from an old Let’s Active album, and “Only a Fool” has a glam rock quality to it. Like their finest predecessors in the post-punk space, Delivery offer up a jaundiced view of modern living, as with the lamenting about all the brain-dulling mundanity they encounter on “Operating at a Loss” (“I get the coffee with a single shot, double shot/ Most of the time, I get my coffee Vintage Crop”). In addition to those already mentioned, accept fate with the following tracks: “Like a Million Bucks,” “Stuck in the Game,” “What Else?” and “Put Your Back Into It.”

THE WEATHER STATION Humanhood (Fat Possum) — Tamara Lindeman of the Weather Station doesn’t think small. On Ignorance, the 2021 album that was a critical darling and a commercial breakthrough for the band, took no less daunting a topic than the global climate crisis as its creative prompt. The new Weather station album, Humanhood, is preoccupied by connecting with one’s own physical form as a means to excavating the emotions that can leave a person paralyzed with doubt and sadness. It’s existential exploration you can dance to, or at least sway along with. Lindeman’s songcraft is impeccable on the album, putting her in some splendid company: “Neon Signs” has the steely delicacy of Beth Orton, and “Ribbon” calls to mind Tori Amos in her Little Earthquakes era. What constantly impresses is the way the precision of the music accentuates and brings further emotional weight to the lyrics. The delicate, beautifully vulnerable “Sewing” uses the stitching together of a hodgepodge garment to shape an ideal metaphor for getting through the darkest days (“Sometimes I get hit by a shattering pain/ I won’t try to forget, I’m going to include it”). Humanhood is a moving, mighty embrace of self. Tell which way the wind blows with the following cuts: “Window,” “Body Moves,” the title track, and “Lonely.”