Iaora Tahiti

On their second album, Mouse On Mars pulled their music into sharper focus — gone, mostly, were the lengthy detours into abstract hypnotism, replaced with a much keener ear for pop structure and melody. Indeed, that’s one of the great joys of Iaora Tahiti, a luscious, almost over-ripe melodicism that pulls at the heartstrings as much as the earlobes. Lead single “Bib” has the duo mashing jungle together with choral exotica and morse-code bleeps; “Saturday Night Worldcup Fieber” crackles with the techno-pop vision of Kraftwerk’s Computer World, relocated to a tiki bar. But “Kanu” is the most heavenly moment here, a klang-scape of chiming Neu!-esque guitar and synth melodies that are just about ready to astral project.