Since the release of their radiant, moony debut album Dispositions, FUAD has basked in the rushless expectation to work on their next one. Whether that pause was a product of time or simply an experiment to find a glue-stuck sonic identity remains unclear. Over the years, however, they’ve released four singles that hint at what toys they’ve been playing with on the playground. There’s the ’90s alternative rock-inspired “Wait and See”, the bittersweet turned crowd favourite “Kopi”, and the achy-breaky indie rock classic “Hot Kitchen”. For impatient fans, these singles only leave them further in the dark about what shape FUAD’s dream-pop identity will carve into next.

That fervour melts a little with “Grand Central Station”. Their new single channels twee pop through skirt-twirling melodies, with Lisa Fuad delivering her strongest emulation yet of Camera Obscura’s Tracyanne Campbell, with saccharine murmurs and lyrics about letting go of someone you never really wanted to lose. The entire song plays out like a scene from a sweaty dream after a bad breakup, jumping from one confession to another. But when it reaches the chorus, the dream chauffeurs into a translucent reality: “I tried sticking gum behind my ear / Like they do in movies / It didn’t work like how you were never there / Leading me to cut my own hair,” she admits. For fans of confessional, reckless songwriting, the chorus reads like a short story in itself — one that easily lights a sparkle in their eyes. But the track loses a bit of momentum toward the end with a sappy guitar solo by Arief Fuad and Lisa’s soaring high pitch colliding into one another — a supposed grand finale that slightly cuts off the melancholy the track had carried from the start. This seems to be where FUAD’s weakness shows most in public; when uncertainty becomes the vehicle, unnecessary additions tend to steal the spotlight.

Still, a twee pop FUAD is a dream that could very well become a great reality. If FUAD ever needs a hint of what their follow-up to Dispositions should sound like, “Grand Central Station” could easily be the blueprint.

Listen to “Grand Central Station” on Bandcamp today: