With the urgency of The National and the energy of Future Islands combined, Grand Courriers is a real contender in the sphere of dramatic, left-field rock. It’s a sound so often approached and rarely executed, but this Minnesota four-piece have introduced an oxidising capsule into this polluted pool with new single ‘Tempted’. This track has been a few years in the making, since the group’s founding member Brady Lundy dropped an EP back in 2015, after which he spent the following time writing alongside guitarist Austin Levi and later inviting Alec Humphrey and Jared Heinsch into the Grand Courriers fold. Time away has clearly paid off as the return is marked with the high standard delivered in ‘Tempted’. It’s a passive-aggressive blend of unrelenting synth keys, blasts of percussive mood swings, warped electronics and Lundy’s baritone growl. Misleadingly steady, the track teeters on the edge of temptation around the 2:40 minute mark, at which point we hear a cinematic crescendo and nostalgic longing for younger, less complicated days. Whatever you suppose the source of trouble may be, is for you to decide. - HT