If every ’90s alternative act updated their sound as gracefully as the Belgian electro-rock outfit Soulwax, the alternative era might never have ended. Hold the band’s latest full-length up to, say, God Lives Underwater’s likeminded 1998 sophomore effort Life in the So-Called Space Age, and you might think the two titles came out no more than a couple of years apart. On closer inspection, though, FROM DEEWEE gives us a glimpse of what those ’90s acts would sound like today had they managed to loosen up just enough to absorb modern sensibilities.

When Soulwax debuted with Leave the Story Untold back in 1996, their music had some pluck but did little to distinguish itself from the guitar bands flooding the market at the time. Soulwax would go on to reinvent themselves as a Britpop, synthpop, techno, and dance-remix act. They declared their omnivorous tastes on 2005 reworking of Daft Punk’s “Teachers,” which name-dropped a litany of influences from the Cramps to Kyuss to Urban Dance Squad to ELO. By their 2016 soundtrack to the film Belgica, core members Stephen and David Dewaele were basically play-acting from a grab bag of styles. But even when their genre exercises were spot-on, Belgica prodded the question: who is this band?

This time, the Dewaele brothers and their cast of supporting musicians finally have a coherent sound. And while it isn’t exactly revolutionary, FROM DEEWEE reconciles the polarity between Soulwax’s rock and electronic sides. Drawing from a battery of three drummers (including none other than former Sepultura ballast Igor Cavalera), the Dewaele’s marry synths to dusty, boxed-in live drums. That contrast prevents the album from tipping too far into the artificial and also works as a counterweight to how the band self-consciously references the past.

From Deewee hearkens back to those halcyon days where funk, disco, krautrock, new wave, rap, and punk all flowed forth into the same pool. The main melody and wheezing steam-engine groove of “My Tired Eyes” both recall classic Depeche Mode, while “Conditions of a Shared Belief” wears the influence of Eddy Grant’s 1982 smash hit “Electric Avenue” on its sleeve. But even at their most electronically inclined, Soulwax remain a ’90s rock act at heart. Mining the disco era, the Dewaele brothers scuff things up, stopping just short of lo-fi. (The album was in fact recorded live with the band capturing songs all together in one take.)

That’s not to say the Dewaeles give production short shrift here. On the contrary: The production is skilled and meticulous. The synths are rich and robust, and the brothers layer multiple drumsets with a sense of finesse that evokes John McEntire’s classic work at the boards for Stereolab. But compared to the haphazard variety of Belgica, FROM DEEWEE comes across with a uniformity and stylishness that grounds its playful moments, such as the punk drumming that introduces and closes the otherwise gleaming synth number “Missing Wires.” As far-reaching as Belgica got, it lacked the simple majesty of the vocal melodies the Dewaele’s have a field day with this time around.

Soulwax betray their ’90s roots the most with their singing. On “Masterplanned,” the main vocal walks the line between dour monotone and sublime earworm. On the other hand, towards the end of “Missing Wires,” a strobing organ figure touches on the upbeat dance style that countless modern indie bands have built careers on. More nimble than they’ve ever been, the Dewaele brothers manage to stack three different eras of music on top of one another without anchoring their songs to any of them. Soulwax have always been a band in transit from one style to the next. On FROM DEEWEE, they arrive at the settled creative space they’ve hinted at but never quite reached in the past. As “Masterplanned” goes, “Thought the journey was the point of the race/But it seems the destination has taken its place.”