Hit Bargain (members of Beach Fossils and Cold Beat), the angular Los Angeles four-piece known for their sardonic explorations of gender, power dynamics, and aging action heroes, returns with their latest album, A DOG A DEER A SEAL. The album is named for the recipe of Chinese three-penis wine, and an apocryphal chimera representing the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the U.S. government. Written and recorded in the heady before-times of 2019 and early 2020, A DOG A DEER A SEAL is a skittish, escitalopram-fueled snapshot of a country on the verge of a nervous breakdown. The deck is stacked with active shooter drills, tech bro millionaires, true crime, general anxiety, and impending catastrophe. In short, nothing much different than now.