Grade: B | At some point, all avant-garde performers, all challenging artists, all progressive creators or expansive visionaries reach a point at which they must choose to either continue pushing the boundaries of their art, or to withdraw and refocus their attention on honing certain experimentations a second time around.

As if they must choose to continue blazing new trails, or to return to one of their previous paths and lay down some asphalt for a pristine and easier-traveled second trip.

This is where Toronto’s Do Make Say Think found itself prior to recording the ensemble’s fifth LP. The psychedelic-influenced act could again spend time in barns and shacks recording seemingly-impromptu jam sessions, or it could hone its jazz-rock fusion into a seamless collection of spacey tunes that sounds less like a band just trying to be challengingly edgy and more like a band with a challenging edge.

The group chose the latter.

And the result is the group’s most cohesive record yet. While it isn’t free from the long-reaching soundscapes (hissing, feedback, background noises picked up from misplaced boom mics), nor are the eight tracks tightly packaged and radio ready, as all but one tops the four-minute mark and three surpass seven minutes, “You, You’re a History in Rust” has made the turn toward perfecting the use of bizarre structures.

Maybe it’s the influence of fellow Canadian rockers Broken Social Scene – that features two members of Do Make Say Think – or maybe just natural maturation. Either way, it’s taken DMST almost a decade to settle into a polished and rounded version of its earlier self.