In reference to the title of PVT’s latest album, Church With No Magic, vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Richard Pike cleared any religious misconception in a recent interview. “It’s not meant to be so literal. We like the sound of it, and the idea of a church being an institution; that façade of an institution doesn’t always live up to the ideal and can often lack substance.”

Simply put, mainstream music is often shallow. The challenge, at least for Pike, his brother Laurence and Dave Miller, is to deliver substantive content. To that end, these curators of the experimental succeed at the highest level. Church With No Magic so improperly details the pure musical magic found within that it’s almost frustrating to think that even one might miss out on the stunning arrangements inside.

Apparitions of Ian Curtis and even Dave Gahan vocally haunt the hallways of PVT’s house of worship, yet the trio’s brooding imagination quickly dispels any easy new wave or synth pop comparisons. ‘Crimson Swan’ skips like the end of a vinyl side throughout while Richard Pike slowly draws you in. Yet after three minutes, the track has morphed into something completely new – with a slightly askew synth canvas supporting bone-chilling choirs and deep, almost tribal percussion. It’s inventive. It’s genius. It’s beautiful.

‘Crimson Swan’ serves as the example here, but PVT’s musical imagination is proudly displayed from the initial swirls of ‘Community’ through Pike’s best vocal work on ‘Only The Wind Can Hear You.’ The title track blips and beeps at all the right times and by the time the tinkering is over, ‘Church With No Magic’ has developed into the highlight of the album. ‘Window’ pulses with an eerie intensity and energy that elevates the album at a much-needed point. And on and on.

Strong response to the band’s debut, 2005’s Make Me Love You, elevated their status from their native homeland enough to land a spot on Warp Records’ roster. With that pipeline of distribution and publicity in place, PVT’s music will take care of the rest.