Change is scary. Doubly so where it concerns the things we love. We listen to our favourite albums, rewatch our favourite shows, more often than we try something new. They become load bearing pillars for our comfort zones – i.e. not the kind of thing that generally calls for a major shake up. It can therefore become a tricky path for artists to navigate, when they themselves are looking to try new things, while fans often want the warm embrace of the familiar. Turning up with a new sound, a new approach to songwriting, and expecting it to be well received by an established audience with their own expectations is always gonna be a gamble. That’s assuming you can pull off a new style to begin with. Complete reinvention from record to record is a feat that few artists can deftly accomplish.

All this brings an old piece of wisdom to mind: “change isn’t the same as growth“. If embracing a new sound involves leaving the old one by the wayside, then an artist isn’t so much expanding their toolkit as swapping out a hammer for a screwdriver. New ideas should build upon the old, not replace them. There’s room for both to coexist. I think Keepers, the sophomore album from Boston trio Tiny Habits, is a sublime example of a record that showcases growth. Fans of the band’s debut will find plenty to love here. Tracks like ‘Anything He Was’, ‘Fragile, Too’, and ‘Pattern Of A Person’ offer all the gorgeous harmony-driven folk we’ve come to know and love. Yet sat alongside them are moments where the band branch out and broaden their horizons to great effect.

The stellar opener ‘Love Ruins Everything’ takes a foray into funk, channelling old school Earth, Wind & Fire, while ‘Someone You Love’ and ‘What Do We Do It For?’ deliver some effervescent upbeat pop. ‘Right In Front Of Me’ offers up an easy-going groove in the vein of Fleetwood Mac, ‘Belt Loop’ slips comfortably into RnB territory, and closing track ‘Lonely Is A Silent Song’ pulls out a dash of fiddle to throw a little country twang into the mix. Granted, some of these new creative offshoots bear more fruit than others. The bouncy electropop of ‘Towel’ and the sensual RnB of ‘Belt Loop’, while well executed, lean too heavily towards a vibe that I don’t really gel with. Yet true to that “growth over change” mantra, nothing is lost by the band taking chances. The moments that don’t work for me, exist alongside the absolute bops, rather than replace them.

The icing on the cake for me is that the central theme of growth also extends into the thoughtful lyricism of Keepers. There’s so much earnest self-reflection into the trio’s own personal journeys. A sense of one chapter closing, and another beginning, that spans across the whole record. Touching on topics like pushing aside others’ expectations and finding the confidence to be yourself (‘Someone You Love’ and ‘Right In Front Of Me’), or the different ghosts of past relationships that remain as you try to move on (‘Anything He Was’, ‘Belt Loop’ and ‘Survivor’s Guilt’). It feels like the band are expanding in two directions, with their lyrics reaching new emotional depths, all as their musical horizons expand outwards. Sophomore records are notoriously treacherous, but Tiny Habits have built upon the foundations of their debut in a way that feels natural and effortless. Here’s hoping they never change.