Light Pollution - Apparitions
‘Apparitions’, the first full lengther from Chicago’s Light Pollution, falls in to very zeitgeisty territory, sitting as it does comfortably between the electronic noodlings of Caribou, the eccentricly harmonious Grizzly Bear and the epic, emotionally wrought song space of Arcade Fire and Besnard Lakes. Is this ‘chillwave’? Frankly, I have no idea these days but the result is a hugely engaging set of songs perfect for summer listening.
Opener, ‘Good Feelings’ creeps up on the listener with a gentle, morning breeze kind of intro before dropping a beat and careering headlong in to one of those arms in the air kind of choruses beloved of this kind of indie and then breaking down in to the heartfelt slow bit. Yes, a teensy bit predictable but lovely none the less.
Less predictable is ‘Drunk Kids’. Layers of gorgeously harmonised vocals are all swirled together with some electronic and percussion to make a kind of Beach Boys on morphine mash up.
On an initial listen one might feel that these guys are just a little too enamoured of Montreal’s finest but there are enough departures from the Arcade Fire formula, ‘Fever Dreams’ and ‘Bad Vibes’ being good examples, for the listener to realise that there’s more to this band than that. This is a very accomplished debut from a band just starting to tap their well of ideas and trying to find their own identity. One suspects that once they do they may produce something very special indeed.
Top Tracks: 'Good Feelings', 'Fever Dreams'.
Released June 21 on Car Park