Album review: ‘(III),’ by Crystal Castles

On their third full-length album, Toronto-based duo Crystal Castles attempt to conjure the dark moods of 1980s synth-dance stalwarts such as Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark and Depeche Mode within the confines of lo-fi home recording, yielding a strange and sometimes compelling amalgam of do-it-yourself aesthetics and populist appeal. It’s a high-wire approach that can bring large dividends or end up feeling dead on arrival; there are few things more lamentable in music than an abortive...