Like tears on New Year’s Eve catching the glitter of fireworks at midnight, San Cisco’s fifth LP Under the Light strikes the delicate balance between euphoria and melancholy that elevates the best pop music from a good time to something more like a cherished friend. The three-piece have entered decidedly more heady territory, both musically and lyrically. It’s the sound of a beloved bastion of indie-pop emerging, growing, and contorting as they explore new collaborations, instrumentation, and songwriting techniques.Thematically, the album title could just as well be referring to the endless blue of a West Australian summer as a dentist’s chair or interrogation room, as we see the band more emotionally exposed than ever before. Face to face with the cruelty of a changing world, San Cisco searches for meaning, stares down the moral ambiguities of adulthood and relationships, and sings a sun-speckled song to human kindness.Under the Light sees San Cisco entering a new phase of maturity, vulnerability and experimentation. As they progress, and the shadows encroach on their island of sun-drenched west-coast pop, and answers to life problems are suffocated by more and more questions, clinging to strength, empathy, love and the redemptive powers of pop-music might just be the only thing that keeps the fire burning.