Describing Sylvan Esso's first three albums as a trilogy that is now complete, Amelia Meath and Nick Sanborn see No Rules Sandy as the beginning of a new period, with songs that are "wilder and stranger and more cathartic than the band used to be," as Sanborn puts it. "It feels like who we actually are," Meath adds. "It just feels like us. We're not trying to fit into the mold, just happily being our freak selves."

Produced and written by Sylvan Esso, with additional recording taking place at their own Betty's studio in Chapel Hill, NC, No Rules Sandy coalesces as an unbroken ribbon of sound, featuring drummer TJ Maiani on "Your Reality" and "Alarm," a string arrangement from Gabriel Kahane on "Your Reality," and saxophone by Sam Gendel on "How Did You Know" and "Coming Back to You," the LP's haunting, acoustic closer that's unlike any song in the Sylvan Esso catalog.

From the glitchy "Moving" to the delicate "Coming Back to You," to all the ecstatic, inspiring pieces in between, No Rules Sandy's most private moments come as interstitial diary entries, filling the spaces between tracks with voicemails from loved ones, birdsong from outside Betty's, children and other life sounds.