Baltimore-based dream pop duo Beach House released its second album in as many months on October 16.

Announced just nine days before its release, Thank Your Lucky Stars comes as a surprise successor to Depression Cherry, released in late August. The two albums, though, scarcely resemble each other.

Thank Your Lucky Stars strays somewhat from Depression Cherry‘s voluminous, cathedral-esque sound. Where the latter is theatrical and grandly orchestrated, the former is stripped-down by comparison. While still deeply rooted in the surreal pop for which the band is known, Lucky Stars takes a darker and more succinct spin on a long-unchanged but ever-popular aesthetic; it more closely resembles mainstream pop.

Since the band’s debut in 2006, no fewer than two years have separated its albums, yet Thank Your Lucky Stars comes just 49 days after Depression Cherry.

Whether one is superior to the other is a matter of personal preference. It’s said that all of Beach House’s music sounds the same — and the band certainly has found its niche — but the duo’s 2015 offerings feel distinct from the rest of its catalog. In this writer’s opinion, Beach House has improved steadily over the years (and Depression Cherry is just a little bit better).