Retriever

 

Attic Ocean

Retriever

(Digital)

Retriever is a five song EP from German five-piece Attic Ocean.  It is their second EP, and you know what?  They have figured it all out!  Each of these five songs evoke different sounds, yet this is a tight unified whole. I can’t imagine breaking these songs apart from their running order, so it feels best to listen to it in its entirety instead of picking individual songs.  Each song has been a favorite since its release in October.

“Young Again” opens this all too brief set with a shot of electricity charged by a driving bassline, and a dreamy sounding guitar lead that evokes “The Cutter” by Echo and the Bunnymen.  Hannin Nasirat’s urgent vocals along with the vibrant instrumentation drawing similarities to the best songs from Spain’s incredible Linda Guilala.  “Young Again” is so aptly titled, because it brims with an inescapable energy that is a powerful narcotic.   This is one of the biggest joys in seeking out and discovering new music. 

Next up, is the huge sounding “Lilies and Sea” that uses its heavy wall of guitar fuzz to bolster the chorus, reminding of some of the best 90s indie by utilizing that era’s LOUDquietLOUD drama.  Hannin’s hushed vocals, and the stratospheric twin guitars of Niels Baumgarten and Maximilian Swierczynski hint at Slowdive’s style of shoegaze, while the galloping drums from Lukas Moore, along with the huge sounding chorus that hints at Lanterns on the Lake at their most anthemic. 

“Glow” provides us with a jangly spirally hook that reminds of Velocity Girl’s “My Forgotten Favorite” as channeled through the cranberries’ third album To the Faithful Departed.  “Glow” is an unabashed pop song with a cyclical vibe and a gushing haze of atmosphere.

The penultimate “Sleepless” thumps along with strong snarling guitars and serious grinding bass from Philip Marx providing a heaviness the previous songs don’t share.  Moore sounds like he’s trying to break his snare and bass drums, along with his splash cymbals.  It’s a glorious song that smashes through its three minutes and is an unexpected change up. 

The closing “Weeks into Years” is another example of this band’s strong songwriting talents.  It sounds timeless and immediately familiar.  I swear it sounds like something I can’t quite put my finger on (ideas are welcome), but it doesn’t matter because it’s absolutely glorious.  The soaring whirr of reverb highlighting the bridges, the Rachel Goswell-esque “oohs” from Chaperhouse’s brilliant “Pearl,” and Marx’s extremely tightly stretched bass strings pluck out a danceable groove, which all combine for a song that begs for repeated listens. 

If you’re not certain from what I’ve written here, this EP is astounding!  I highly recommend checking them out.  This EP initially hit me in a similar way that Australia’s Fragile Animals did with their debut LP last year.  Songs with emotional depth, musical drama, and catchy hooks.  What could be better? 

(https://atticocean.bandcamp.com/album/retriever)

Attic Ocean "Lilies and Sea"

Every Heaven

 

Humdrum

Every Heaven

(Slumberland) 

The debut album, Every Heaven, from Chicago’s Humdrum is an indie pop dream come true.  To get the easiest comparisons out of the way, if you were a fan of the band Star Tropics, who existed throughout the twenty-teens, yet only managed one full length LP, the incredibly infectious Lost World (Shelflife Records, 2017), the precursor and required listening for Humdrum, as bandleader/songwriter Loren Vanderbilt is the man behind both of these projects.  In other words, if you loved Lost World, you will undoubtedly love Every Heaven,  

Other comparisons and influences could be the entirety of the Sarah Records catalogue (1987-1995, 100 releases), or more specifically The Field Mice and their indie pop singles like “September’s Not so Far Away” as channeled through the jangles of early R.E.M. and the straightforward urgent bass lines of The Railway Children.  I also keep thinking of the version of The Jesus and Mary Chain’s re-take of “The Hardest Walk” from the Some Kind of Wonderful movie soundtrack.  This album is on the Slumberland Record label as well, so that alone is both an influence and a stamp of high quality.

There’s a dreamy sentimentality to these songs that creates a wonderful nostalgia for naïve times in our lives when our emotions are especially dramatic and unjaded by life’s experience.  It’s so refreshing and familiar that there’s no way to not feel comfortable and at home listening to Every Heaven.

The title track is a brief instrumental opener with a pounding drum machine and an ever ascending exploratory feel that ends with a woman’s voice saying “What is it about this place?  It’s like another world” before segueing  into the very Field Mice-like “There and Back Again,” (another Sarah reference?) which is so unbelievably catchy that it’s kind of unfair.  Loren’s vocals are friendly and humble sounding with a hint of emotion and maybe a dose of impatience or excited anticipation.  The thing is that the next song “Superbloom” is every bit as addictive, as well as “Wave Goodbye,” with its cascading guitars and its spectacular bridge and chorus.  I don’t know who does the backing vocals, but when they appear the harmonies are fantastic! 

Side two does not let up at all, as “See Through You” surges with great energy and another perfect chorus, “Eternal Blue” evokes the greatness of The Cure’s timeless 1987 single “Just Like Heaven” (that keyboard!).  Most of these songs are upbeat and exciting.  The lower tempo songs add a nice dynamic, and more of those yearning keyboards that transport one to somewhere “a million miles away,” as repeated in “Ultraviolet.”

Every Heaven is an album that I cannot stop listening to.  It feels like I’ve been listening to these songs all of my life and the songs always feel like a soothing balm to any kind of ills.  Like visiting with a longtime friend.  The kind of friend one can relate to no matter the passage of time.. 

(https://heyhumdrum.bandcamp.com/album/every-heaven)

 

Humdrum "There and Back Again"

 

Reflections

 

Bright Like Stars

Reflections

(self released)

Well, this is a revelation.  I come to this by being a fan of Neil Burkdoll’s instrumental work with the fantastic band Whimsical.  I’ve long admired the dream pop vistas he has created with singer/songwriter Krissy Vanderwoude, and especially how his music has progressively improved through the years.  In a similar long distance songwriting style, Burkdoll has joined forces with Craig Douglas (from bands Neonach and Omega Vague – though I’ve never heard of either) to conjure up a varied collection of heavy alternative guitar rock.  I use the term “alternative,” because these songs kind of remind me of listening to those mid 90s “alternative rock” radio stations when they exploded onto the scene. 

These songs invoke the spirit of the sounds of a bunch of those bands, but not any particular one.  Each song is different in a way that listening to a variety of different bands on a radio station might be, and honestly, each song is varied within.  I’ll admit that there is a mild sense of nostalgia for this old fart while listening to the aptly titled Reflections, but not in a direct way.  These songs are completely all their own.  Douglas’s vocals do remind me a bit of a meeting point between Perry Farrell and Alice in Chains’ Layne Staley, while Burkdoll’s music runs the gamut from the My Bloody Valentine buzzing howls of the first single “Reeling” (available now) to a few tastefully well placed guitar solos.

While there are some heavy moments that recall Gish – era Smashing Pumpkins, such as the opening “Ever Fading,”  “The Healing,” and the powerhouse “The End,” there are uptempo numbers as well, like the dreamy vocals on top of a Bad Religion drum beat, along with several crunchy/catchy pop tunes like “Star Dust,” “The Less You know,” and both the album closer and my early favorite song “On the Other Side,” with its soaring chorus.

There’s a freshness to Reflections that reminds me of the first time I hear DC band Shudder to Think way back in 1991.  It checks a lot of boxes, feels comfortable and familiar, yet wholly new.  It feels like these guys were inspired and had fun creating these songs, and its infectious.  Plus this is a "Name Your Own Price" release on Band camp!  Check it out when it relases on November 29th, it's definitely worth your time.

(https://brightlikestars.bandcamp.com/album/reflections)