Pop music that’s unafraid to be messy, frayed around the edges, and even a tinge dissonant scratches a very particular kind of itch. On Behold, Melbourne’s Parsnip fits this bill quite satisfyingly, never relying on the gritty texture of lo-fi production or the posturing of a scuzzy garage revival band.
Champion is a record you'll want to listen to over and over. It’s packed with infectious sing-songy vocals, jagged instrumentals, and warm vibes. Ragnhild Fangel Jamtveit has described it as the album where Pom Poko has matured. New life experiences, such as parenthood, shape Champion into the magical experience that it is.
Winter claims the lyrics within ...and she's still listening are written from a perspective of a female character that she considers an “extension of her,” an exploratory writing process that could be seen as a unique tool to translate a continued healing journey from the subconscious. Winter leaves listeners to sink into honest emotion.
Queen of Jeans’ All Again is a tribute to the kinetics of a relationship post break-up. The Philadelphia band, consisting of members, Miriam Devora, Matheson Glass, Patrick Wall, and Andrew Nitz, explores the tribulations of heartbreak through an infectious indie rock sound consistent throughout their discography.
This record served as the fourth quarter follow-up, a little "something extra," to the band's latest album, Can't Make Any Promises, which was released in March of 2023. Watching a Fire has more of the band's trademark homespun warmth and lo-fi charm, where sweet pop rock tunes coexist with more solemn introspective moments.
The music in question is, well, difficult to describe in typical genre buzzwords, though many have tried. Neither “psychedelic” nor “trip-hop” do much of any justice to the twosome’s defiant sound. Then again, “sound collage” doesn’t help much either because even that movement tends to focus more on the process than the end-product.
Kingston, NY's own Rider/Horse’s "journey" started out as a "duo delivering stripped-down post-punk screeds," but across Matted, they are ever closer to a full band configuration. Can they maintain the "minimalist industrial clatter...as [their] sonic foundation," or have they blazed an entirely new trail forward? With joy and awareness, I declare, "Yes."
Nurture is the debut from Chicago’s Girly Pants, a release mixed with a sweetness and ear for melodies, full of heart tugging lyrics about the intricacies of relationships and growing up. Sabreen Alfadel is unafraid to get loud, pairing entertaining guitar riffs along with jazzy shuffles that are full of vitality and a stately cool in the atmosphere.
Allora, the new full-length from the New York songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, is a snapshot. For someone known just as much for painting ambient sunscapes and making 24-hour albums as for piecing together roaring, spiritual, overwhelming rock songs with chorales of friends, Allora is his most unyielding and raw release to date.
