Noise and Sweetness, in That Order

The Beatsteaks have been Berlin’s most durable rock band for the better part of two decades—not because they reinvent anything, but because they understand exactly what a song needs to do and then do it without apology. Milk & Honey is that understanding crystallized: a clean drop into noise, something sweet underneath it, the kind of track that earns its chorus by not asking for it too early. If you’ve seen them live you already know what the song becomes in a room full of people. If you haven’t, this is a reasonable place to start.