Having already moved on from their early, folk-inflected sound on 2015's Control, Los Angeles' Milo Greene further embrace a sophisticated '80s vibe on their third album, 2018's aptly titled Adult Contemporary.

The band's first recording since the departure of co-founding member Andrew Heringer, Adult Contemporary finds the group once again splitting lead vocals and songwriting duties between singer/instrumentalist Marlana Sheetz and singer/instrumentalist Robbie Arnett.

While that kind of shared responsibility could threaten to make the album feel disjointed, Milo Greene manage to retain a cohesive, if still stylistically varied, sound throughout Adult Contemporary.

This is true even when they shift gears, moving from the tidal wave emotionality of Arnett's bass-heavy ballad "Be Good to Me" to the kinetic dance-pop of Sheetz's "Young at Heart." Elsewhere, they split the difference, harmonizing on the Kate Bush-esque "Slow" and the rootsy, country-tinged "Your Eyes." They also strike a pleasing balance on the slick, disco-imbued soft rock of "Your Eyes" and the driving "Wolves," which sounds improbably like '80s Fleetwood Mac with Johnny Marr on guitar.

Admittedly, with two lead singers and the band's penchant for era-evoking songs, Milo Greene remain somewhat hard to gauge on Adult Contemporary.

Are the emotions real, or are the songs exercises in genre fluidity? Two bookend-style tracks, "Easy Listening, Pt.

1" and "Pt.

2," which feature ambient soundscapes and an automated voice defining the genre "easy listening," only compound the issue.

It adds to the notion that Milo Greene, while talented songwriters, are also cheeky postmodernists.

The conceptual leanings make it hard to fully embrace an album that is dichotomously full of deep, seemingly earnest emotion and arch, hold-you-at-arms-length irony.

Perhaps all of the creative contradictions, as well as the band's knack for crafting melodic hooks, are what still make Adult Contemporary such a compelling listen.