by Hayden Godfrey (@HaydenGodfreyy)
“I wanted to make it bare-bones,” Portland-based creative Vishal Narang (who records under the name Airhead DC) told The All Scene Eye of his new EP, Busted Sermon. Contrary to his previous release, the reflectively dense Crush Hi, the goal was to create something simple, dreamy, and capable of being recorded on a four-track tape recorder, he said. To his credit, the resulting effort, which is just six songs long, accomplishes that rather admirably.
From the moment he starts singing, Narang produces a sound and vibe that is quintessentially lo-fi and even more easy to absorb. It won’t blow any minds, nor will the songwriting structures or instrumentation top the charts, but the record has a nice feel to it, making it worth a listen if only for its atmosphere.
On the opener, “Condo 2,” Narang integrates slick guitar lines into an already cheerful mix, creating a bite-sized introduction that isn’t jarring nor foreign. The next two tracks, the flowy “Window” and the dreamy “Nominator,” cement the album’s mood and push his delivery into more relatable territory. In particular, the intro to “Nominator” is a delightfully loopy passage that sets up the sleepy verses nicely.
Narang’s lyrical style is stoic and percussively linked to his instrumental foundation. In more ways than one, his voice’s integration into his arrangements makes it seem more like an additional instrument than an added-on top layer.
Near the end of the EP’s seventeen minute runtime, the songs become slightly more instrumentally sparse, with the coastal and organic “Amphora Jam” perhaps serving as the record’s most profound track. The album’s closer, the flange-soaked “Gee Prayer” is a respectable crescendo to a balanced collection of tunes, with a potential Beatles reference added in for good measure. Above all else, it demonstrates Narang’s artistic devotion to simplicity and atmospheric production.
Though mostly derivative and not wholly original, Airhead DC’s Busted Sermon is a fun, easily digestible chunk of lo-fi guitar pop that captures simple feelings and honest emotions. It may not cut through the plethora of pandemic-era EPs, but it stands alone as a pleasant, well-composed expression of organic grooviness and steady character.