Third albums normally find artists planting ceremonial flags, often statements of mastery. Beset by the suicide of singer Sarah Barthel’s older sister, Three arrives with a weight hovering over electro pop-hop duo Phantogram. Soulful follow-up to last year’s Big Boi co-feature EP Big Grams, the Voices of Conquest-sampled “Same Old Blues” and boom-bap-crunched “Cruel World” and “You’re Mine” all venture into sonic realms previously unexplored by the Greenwich Village, NYC, concern. “And hurt people hurt people too,” howls Josh Carter on “Barking Dog,” a track explicitly confronting the death in the room. Not without failings, such as the power ballad “Destroyer,” the lower points temper the album’s explosiveness. (Fri., 10:45pm, Dragon’s Lair stage)

**.5

This article appears in November 4 • 2016.

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Kahron Spearman is a journalist and writer with bylines including The Austin Chronicle, Austin Monthly, Consequence of Sound, Texas Highways, and the London-based journal The Break-Down. He currently serves as Senior Editor at Atmosphere TV.