Original music is such a delight in the a cappella world, and Postyr always brings new ideas to the table. Footprints, the latest album from this Danish collective, delivers the goods.

No Home Without You is the standout of the release, with Lucas Tuan Minh Hoang singing lead on my favorite of this song collection. The track has a vinyl-esque crinkle in the percussion, not to mention a lovely and fully human duet with a higher voice. It's the most interesting song with the most full-bodied texture, and the song I'll most want to listen to going forward.

With You features the electronica percussion that is Postyr's trademark. The group has embraced its laptop as part of its arranging, adding not only multiple layers but also crisper and more repetitive sounds than an acoustic group would ever get close to. One of the odd things about Footprints is that the imperfections in the main voices make the piece feel more human instead of less perfect. On Broken Parts, by contrast, the autotune takes over for a sound that is both polished and oddly squared off. In lieu of percussion, the piece plays with reverb and what I can only describe as whooshing effects. It's a little like hearing a choir in the middle of an old-school computer game. Anybody Else But Me just slides right over me with its dubstep noise vocabulary and generic pop melody.

Dybe Fodspor (Deep Footprints), in contrast, sounds the most like something you might here live. It's vulnerable and accessible, its little intonation ripples giving it a living quality that goes down easy. At the end of the day, I'm here for the voices, and I'm glad the computers still leave room for the group to sing.

Postyr has always walked the edge between a cappella group and electronic vocal-centric band. The group's gorgeous blend, easy homophony, and profound musical connection give this ensemble a folk rock quality. But underlying and perhaps joyfully "undermining" the purity and simplicity of the group's sound is Kristoffer Fynbo Thorning. With his hand in all things electronic, Thorning introduces elements of processing, distortion, and electronic drumming that defy the near-Carpenters-esque smoothness that the vocals alone deliver. And when those two divergent energies are in balance, the group seems most contemporary in its musical language and emotional impact.

Anybody Else But Me and Broken Parts act as firm anchors to Postyr's electronic side. Either would mix nicely with Imogen Heap's work (think Hide and Seek). Soft electronica-rock might describe the style of both With You and No Home Without You. Only Dybe Fodspor eschews the electronica, delivering a pure and moving anthemic folk song.

As if the group's style isn't head-turning enough, the entire album is original, an all-too-rare rare achievement in a cappella. And equally rare is that the group members co-composed three of the tracks, the other two penned solely by Lucas Tuan Minh Huang. In the group's own words, Footprints is about "search for purpose in life — about the desire to find home within oneself and together with the right people". I can't think of a topic more suited to the unique camaraderie which is the very essence of a cappella. No other quest has quite the same pressures or produces such lovely diamonds.

On the critical side, the album does feel a bit more restrained than the group in live performance. Put another way, Postyr makes heads explode with their soaring leads and powerful wall of sound. This album isn't sleepy, but it captures Postyr's gentler side. Beautiful and interesting, but missing the raw power that has become part of the group's signature.

Postyr's overall style gets so much focus in this review in part because it's so rare in the world of a cappella, leaving an impact at least as profound as the individual songs themselves. It's a world unto itself. But count blessings: fans have five new originals to bask in as they revel in the dance between Postyr's harmony of disparate influences.

Upon receiving this assignment, it was a shock that Postyr's last album for RARB consideration was back in 2015, as Paper Tiger has been burned into my memory since. Such is the magic of Postyr: transcendent, innovative, and certainly memorable in its use of technology paired with the human voice. The group's latest EP, Footprints, once again utilizes the electronic medium in intentional, subtle, and tasteful ways to augment the emotional quality of its power ballads.

My last album review spoke of Postyr's use of electronic elements in terms such as "unabashed", which is certainly the case here with Broken Parts. It is clear to me that this is a stylistic device for further expression (rather than a necessary autotune element) and a very effective one at that. But the overwhelming majority of this EP seems to use vocal filters in a more subtle manner, allowing even more natural vocalism to shine through both solo and harmony parts. This shift creates a somewhat more naturalistic sound, giving listeners an even closer look at the also-brilliant unaugmented talents of the group.

The tracks that garner a "5" are more like a "5!" because of how unified the musical approach to conveying emotion is executed. Whether it's melodic language, harmonic language, texture, inclusion or exclusion of percussion from one phrase to the next, or a massive palette of timbres available, Postyr strikes just the right chord when needed. Nearly every track would subjectively be classified as more of a ballad than an uptempo, and each is so unique, weaving well into the next tune. For me, the only notable drawback to this EP is the solo line in Anybody Else But Me, which features a text setting that comes off as wordy and nonspecific at points. That said, there is still a great deal to appreciate in that track as well, from the background soundscape to the upbeat quality.

With another knockout release, all I can think to ask Postyr for at this point is more music. As with the group's last RARB-reviewed album, I can't recommend listening to Footprints soon enough.