After a long year spent performing alongside such acts as Kanga, Vision Video, She Past Away and Kaelan Mikla, Kansas City-based darkwave act Mensa Deathsquad has returned with a new album, a new energy and a new take on his own sound.

Steeped in moody minimalism, Personal Book of Spells (out February 7) blends driving darkwave synths with chipped-razor, post-punk guitar slashing and swing-for-the-fences songcraft to create a collection of music that is high on vibes, high on danceable energy and highly catchy.

“I was going through the long, painful disintegration of one of the most important relationships of my life,” says Brandon Phillips, the man behind the Mensa Deathsquad moniker. “The size and weight of the grief was staggering. I did not set out to make an album or have some concept or other in mind, but as I was finishing the album, it became clear that these songs had become like little mantras or spells that I could chant to myself as a way of moving through the grief. The title Personal Book of Spells brought it all together. “

From the opening pounding bass line of “Suffer,” through the swaying final moments of “Bliss,” Personal Book of Spells veritably thrums with the high vibrations of late nights, slick streets, and the love, sex and melancholy that attend those adventures – experienced fully in all their triumph and tragedy.

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Photo courtesy of Brandon Phillips