Drawing upon their wide-ranging disciplines as fixtures in Berlin’s experimental music scenes, they found their stride as Roomer, making neo-shoegaze that doesn’t neatly fit the parameters of the genre’s contemporaries. With such artistry, unavoidable nods to Slowdive and My Bloody Valentine exist. Yet their folk and electroacoustic stylings put their music closer to an unearthed Numero Group reissue of an unsigned, cult melancholic alt-rock band. The album’s satisfying progression from heady to weightless guitar introspection, tied together by confessional, sultry murmurs, shows their considered effort to land on a refined set of delicate rock. Today’s Roomer trio of Ronja Schößler, Ludwig Wandinger, and Luka Aron have left their laboriousness behind with Staircase Made of Rope. The title of its predecessor perhaps fits this new chapter better: a concerted effort to improvise and leave their noodlings largely untouched after being recorded. The newfound spontaneity comes as a by-product of their sustained friendship, but without edits made, the music tends to stay in a single lane. None of that is inherently bad. “Something New” is as lively as slowcore can be with its scintillating guitars. However, the pacifying Boris-esque coda that seamlessly segues into the crusting, monolithic “Grey” is one of several affecting moments that deserved to breathe, in order to land with greater impact. “Good On My Own” is similar, initially propelled by an askew rhythmic backbone, then tapering off to a low-res guitar lullaby that could feel less tacked on if it were prolonged. But those decisions were driven by impulse, given the improvisatory element. As a result, Roomer occasionally embark on a stranger path, with the surreal guitar licks on “Written By”, the abrupt cyclone of distortion interlude “No Different After All”, the dead-march title track “Staircase Made of Rope”, and the abstruse words throughout similar to shoegaze’s pioneers. Yet if Roomer gave more time to honing their noisy feedback, their second effort wouldn’t sound so uniform.