Two years ago when Tantale released their second album, Just Add Vice, I said they were a band who felt somewhat overtaken by the scene around them, now though, as they release they third full length record, Tightrope, it seems they’ve found their place.

Rather than this making them comfortably at ease in their music, this seems to have given them the confidence to explore further and do things even more their own way than ever.

When I spoke to the band for BBC Music Introducing in Guernsey last month they were keen to make the point that this album was recorded in a far more live and organic manner than their previous releases, again in their bunker, but this time with Stretchy of Stretchy Studios behind the controls.

From the very start this shows as Tightrope presents Tantale in a far more relaxed and experimental mode. Opener Ex-spired catches this, spanning everything from their more expansive sounds to a far more indie ‘garage band’ style than I’ve heard from them before, which is rather refreshing.

That’s not to say ‘live and organic’ is a synonym for back to basics as they once again take us on an exploration of their trademark ‘ambient grunge’.

With this they also veer off into semi-acoustic and sonically restrained territory (including some very nicely delivered strings from Gregory Harrison) as on Ocean Floor to almost old school rock at points (Feed Your Ghost, complete with glam rock hand claps), all laced through with the fingerprints of their own and their producers psychedelic flourishes.

This could easily mean the record sounds disjointed, jumping from one style to another, but given the band’s 10 years together it all comes within the confines of their well established sound a chemistry that come across even on disc.

Frontman Steve Wickin’s Eddie Vedder like delivery remains a linchpin of this, but is more than backed by Kyuss-lite like guitars from both Wickins and Louis Le Couteur and the most varied display I’ve heard from rhythm duo of Matt Smart (bass) and Graham Duerden (drums).

That all said, the album isn’t flawless and, in fact, it’s the final two tracks that feel somewhat tacked on with title track Tightrope feeling like it gets cut off before it reaches its prime before possibly their fuzziest track to date, Only Then, just ends a bit too soon.

Otherwise though, with Tightrope Tantale have created another record that, much like the band, stands out from the pack in both quality and style merging several sounds, most based in a 90s kind of vein, into something inescapably their own.

You can download the album or buy a physical copy from the band via Bandcamp