Despondent Transponder: Not Just a Fleeting Joy

            This is a retrospective review of the Fleeting Joys album Despondent Transponder (2006), and the 12th review on this blog.

            Fleeting Joys is a Shoegaze band from California, in a mainly traditional sense.  There are moments when they are more 90s alt-metal/alt-rock than shoegaze, but overall, this is one of those albums I’d recommend to anyone who wants to know what shoegaze sounds like, and who might not have had as much time bleeding their ears on the progenitors like I have (figuratively).  They have a great sound, with mainly drifting guitars, driving bass, riding drums, and vocals with a dreamy quality resurrected from the shoegaze-explosion of the 90s.
            I actually came across their formerly-lost song, Golden Now, first, and after listening to it a couple dozen times on headphones, I wanted more.  Fortunately, Despondent Transponder didn’t disappoint.  This is a strong album, and I’m glad I can write about it, even though they’ve since released newer material, because it’s so richly textured, and raw.  After all this time, it’s still relevant and enjoyable, as loads of the album just sticks with you.
            Here’s my TBT:

            The album starts with the song “The Breakup”.  It’s a modern-style shoegaze purist track, with loads of reverse-reverb and transparent overdrive.  A great start, it’s a chilled-out track, and they make use of the Kevin Shields glide guitar style of playing well.  This is another epitome of shoegazing music, like last week’s, but in a different way.  Fleeting Joys have a certain laid-back harshness about their sound on Despondent Transponder that makes their sound generally somewhere between indie rock, metal, and shoegaze proper.  Vocals are beautiful, layered, and calmly foreboding; drums ride in the verses, and are hard-hitting in the choruses; bass blasts out overdriven tones; and there’s even a great coda with samples and a perfect example of shoegazing in its element.

            “Lovely Crawl” comes next, and it’s a kind of hard-rock shoegaze mix.  Enveloping guitar and great soft breathy vocals are nicely juxtaposed by heavy bass, and slow-driving drums.  There are loads of layers in the track, many of them vocal, but some guitar, like the solos that shout out alt-rock done right.

            “Go and Come Back” is the third track.  It’s slower and softer than most of the album.  The guitar drifts in and out of its own reverb, and the vocals are beautiful.  The drums throughout are textured and played in a way to perfectly support and shine at the same time, as the bass grounds.  “Go and Come Back” is like lifting from the ground, but knowing you’ll never get lost in the sky.

            “I Want More Life” starts out with some string-samples being pitch warped, and then erupts into a kind of upbeat shoegaze speed-metal, in which the drums speed the track up, and the guitar give the illusion that the drums aren’t going fast at all.  Of course, it can certainly get the heart going, but it calms as it rages on.  It’s like an upper and a downer, not that I’d advise either of those non-musically.  It’s amazing that instrumental tracks can get this good.

            “Satellite” is fast and washed out with great guitar and high vocals.  The bass gives a backdrop to the track, and actually helps keep the key for the vocals, because great drums and warped guitar only help to imbue the track with a chaotic ordered-ness.  There’s an instrumental bridge after the middle of the track that’s to die for.  Look for it, and repeat ad infinitum.

            “While I’m Waiting”, the sixth track, comes after a low-end distorted fade-in.  The keyboard is like a good pop-line from the 90s, in the midst of a great 90s revival song.  It sounds optimistic, even though the lyrics are a bit Slowdivey.  Layered vocal harmonies fade out with the sweet anachronistic bass-line at the end.

            “Magnificent Oblivion” warps and flourishes, and a kind of repeating tremolo that sounds like a cd skipping on a synth track gives it a nice catchiness inside of the atmosphere created by warm bass, soft drums (with classic shoegaze-style cymbal rides), shy and dreamy vocals, and cold-and-aching-sounding guitar.  It’s a longer track, and addictive to boot.

            “Where Do I End” is the eighth track, and it sounds more 90s metal than shoegaze, even though it’s definitely a crossover.  I love the vocals and tonal combinations of the guitar and bass.  Actually, I love the ultra-90s-alt-rock drums too.  Actually, I adore this whole album, so if I don’t mention something, it’s not for lack of enjoyment.  Loads of fuzz and some great fake-out endings and hiss near the end.

            “Young Girls Fangs” comes next.  It begins with static, and what sounds like a guitar (or five) being fed through a Leslie speaker (or an emulator of one).  It’s another instrumental, and synths and guitar sound like the only parts to this track, even though bass is prevalent.  It’s just that the bass is so melded perfectly with the guitar’s chords and rhythm (and rejection thereof), that it doesn’t sound like anything could be that on-time outside of being built-in.

            “Patron Saint” is a hard-rock shoegaze mix.  The bass and drums are more modern rock (well-performed modern-rock, that is), and the vocals are more chilled out.  The guitar is almost impossible to describe without talking about pedals, looping, and sounds that defy description.  So instead of trying to analyze it to death, I’ll just say that it creates a kind of wildly out-of-control atmosphere, that somehow the bass manages to persuade back into non-noise-rock territory.  It’s an odd song to end on in some ways (it was the original ending of Despondent Transponder, before Golden Now was rediscovered by the band), but it does sound like an ending nonetheless.  And a bit like a Sonic Youth solo.

            “Golden Now” is the last track on the digital version of Despondent Transponder.  It’s a Heavenly sound with loads of slowly modulated guitar, bass supporting all the tones, drums that grab the attention with analogue-sounding distortion, and a killer vocal-lyrical combination.  It’s the reason I found this album, really.  As complex as it is laid-back, and dark as it is uplifting, it’s a paradox set to music.  Just listening to the drums brings by my adoration of tube mics, and the whole thing is done to a T.

            Overall, an amazing and interesting display of power and grace, usually simultaneously.  Fleeting Joys has since released a new album, and you can stream both for free at http://fleetingjoys1.bandcamp.com, and purchase CD-quality downloads at that link as well.  Like many bands, they can’t live up to their name.  The joy that is Fleeting Joys actually lasts a long time.

The Millia Pink And Green: Perfect Shoegaze Harmony

 

            This is a retrospective review of the EP The Millia Pink and Green (2003) by Sway, and the eleventh review here on Track-By-Track.

            This EP is succulent.  Though ten years old, like fine wine, it only gets better with age.  It’s a perfect portrait of the shoegaze genre, and of music itself in my opinion.  There’s a beautifully overwhelming quality to it that is in part due to the compression throughout, which instead of stonewalling, enhances the artistry of the track.  Through this compression a kind of pleasantly burning sound is achieved, for lack of a better description.
            But there isn’t fire alone with this masterpiece by Sway.  Simultaneously, there’s a watery modulated sound to the guitars in most cases.  The two big names in shoegaze I tend to cite are My Bloody Valentine, and Slowdive, because of the overall atmospheres and emotion that they create with their music, and The Millia Pink and Green is a revival of sorts of their main genre of music; but with a sound that instead of copying, reaches beyond the two bands’ individual styles for a third distinct part of shoegaze.  Just listening to the first track sends me into bliss, so with that in mind, you might want to find a special time and place to listen to this release.  “Like a mind-altering substance, without the risk” (look up the quotation).
            Here’s my TBT:

            The EP starts off quickly with a hit of sound.  It's immediately enveloping and classic, through huge guitar and sharp drums.  This is one of only a handful of songs I mean when I say  "shoegaze proper”.  The crisp snares ride waves of guitar delays, as the beautifully sung and wonderfully harmonized vocals, heavily drowned in reverb, create yet another atmosphere within the song.  Even though the chorus is one word, it’s addictive and massively ethereal.  The lyrics seem to be nice (from what I can understand of them), and it just feels like one of those songs you remember.  Touches of bass and glockenspiel add to the instantly classic nature of the track, which just solidifies the perfection of “Fall”.

            “Sounds Like Everyone” comes next, and is very Slowdive.  Processed and layered guitars play drums that slowly fade in over their own reverberations.  All of the guitar in the chorus brings out what it might sound like if My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless were part of Slowdive’s Souvlaki.  The vocals are harmonized and processed, and again, the compression on this track especially brings out that distinctively well-done burning sound.  The end is a complete abandon to the forces of music.  It’s a rich phased treat, and the minor key emphasizes a forceful yet soft seriousness like the darker songs by Sigur Ros.  Or perhaps this is the song I’ll be referring to in the future about that sound.

            “Sullust” is like Slowdive’s ambient work Pygmalion, but with a modern flare.  It’s an ethereal sound progressing linearly, without chorus or definable words; only the harmony of massive guitars and vocals, and an underlying drumbeat and bass that supports it well.  If there are synths in the track, they are only slightly discernible above the guitars and vocals, and what I think are synths might just be a trick of the mind induced by oceans of reverb.  It’s textured so well that it doesn't sound muddled, yet simultaneously it overwhelms the senses with harmonies through vast reverb soundscapes.

            “Ever And Ever” is the fourth track, with a great indie tom-based drumbeat, and introspective lyrics like: “Everything we are goes away / All we are is dust”.  Guitar and vocals once again amaze.  There are loads of resonant tones throughout the track, and the end brings the classic riding shoegaze-style drumbeat back.  Staggering harmonies, and sheer love come through level after level of music, which takes more than just a few listens to even begin to explore.

            The final track, “Opentillate”, is like what it would sound like if R.E.M. at their musical peak collaborated with Slowdive just before their last album, and Billy Corgan ghostwrote some guitar lines.  The levels of resonance bring a bliss to the track unparalleled in most songs, and 90s-alt-rock guitar glows beside harmonies to perfection, a soft but powerful bass, and drums that contain all the elements of the previous tracks.  How five tracks like the ones on this EP were ever brought together astounds me, because any band with one of them to their credit deserves praise.

            Overall, in a word, perfection; musical sophistication and production quality is through the roof, and I'm in love with this EP.  You can download it in CD quality for whatever price pleases you at http://sway.bandcamp.com.  Sway has since split up, leaving Andrew Saks as the sole member of Sway.  Fortunately, that means we can expect new songs from Sway in the future.  If they’re anything close to this, I can’t wait.

We Saw the Moon: A Starry Night

            This is a review of the EP We Saw the Moon (2013), by Swedish duo Hearts of Black Science, and the tenth review here on Track-By-Track.

            Though almost half-a-year old, this EP was new to me when I heard it recently.  It’s a lot like deservedly well-respected bands meeting equally talented lesser-known bands, musically.  Observer Drift (whose latest album was my first review on this blog) definitely comes to mind, as well as electronic artist Liars, goth staples The Cure, and U2, among others.  The EP is engineered, performed, and written, like a band at the top of their game.  And that’s exactly what they seem to be.
            What really surprised me was the ability that Hearts of Black Science -- the Gothemburg-based duo of Daniel Änghede on vocals and physical instruments, and Tomas Almgren on production/mixing, digital instruments, and more-than-fitting album art -- has of blending goth tones and themes with lighter and more atmospheric genres.  It’s really the combination of Almgren’s and Änghede’s two different perspectives on music that makes We Saw the Moon not only unique, but uniquely enjoyable.  This is a release that lulls and swells with mood and emotion, and mixes a nighttime atmosphere with different takes on that theme.  Great music conveys emotion, and this is a softly-lit warm reminder.
            Get out your candles; here’s my 10th TBT:

            “Winter In Tar Garden” starts the EP, with a decidedly chilly atmosphere.  A pleasantly dark track, with processing all over electronic bass, piano, and a modern drumbeat.  It reminds me of milder songs from the ongoing genre crossover (and continual miscategorization) of black metal and shoegaze, but done properly with wafts of electronic and mildly ambient tones.  There’s enough time to get the atmosphere of the track through instrumental breaks between the sparse vocals, and the vocal-lyrical combination give it a whole other level of mood.  The vocals are processed to perfection (in the alternative-music sense, not the pop-music sense), and great synths are just loud enough to almost totally mask some great guitars.  This obscuration somehow makes the track better than if the guitars were at the forefront, like the generally obscured or low-volume vocals in shoegaze proper.  Synths bring out a dark atmosphere, but in a way that's like a dark Van Gogh, rather than a depressing or unpleasantly dark movie.  It reminds me a bit of Curve's song “Coast is Clear”.

            “College Dreams” comes next, and it’s a definite 80s-style hit.  It’s probably my favourite on the EP, and it has loads of glo-fi with some hints of dream-pop throughout.  Great synths, and vocals with classic lyrics are sung, processed, and harmonized, like a collaboration between U2 and Duran Duran at their best.  It sounds nostalgic, and there’s definitely a chillwave sound to the track.  Drums are in that addictive eq, and guitars are very 80s.  Though on first listen, I wasn’t huge on the mid-range-bandpass-equalized vocal cuts, by the second listen, I was looking forward to them like a long-overdue release from The Postal Service (as if such a thing were ever announced).  It’s heartening that such a happy-sounding track has mildly foreboding lyrics, such as: “For now we’re young and we’ll never die”.

            “Icon” is the 3rd track, and though it starts with a lo-fi electronic goth sound, it quickly becomes an electronica anthem.  This one has the least prominent guitars yet it fits the scheme of the EP by being smack-dab in the middle.  Guitars are mainly underneath loud bass synths and old-school drum samples, and let’s not forget the classic chorus-effected-piano, and choral samples.  The vocals once again are amazing, and emotive without fault or over-production.  There are definitely parts that remind me of The Cure (especially the better tracks of their 4:13 Dream album), and Peter Murphy’s “Cuts You Up”, among other great goth progenitors.

            “Fathoms” is the penultimate track.  Some glitchy drums and tremolo-processed synths are the perfect backing for what sounds like Slowdive meeting The Unforgettable Fire-era U2, and it interestingly becomes a goth glo-fi/chillwave track, which I never thought could ever mix , let alone so well.  The drums are slow, and guitars appear in odd places, as well as providing a great atmosphere for the vocals (in all their modulated and harmonized glory) to drift on.  Bass takes a back-seat, but still remains important in keeping the darker tone of the song.  And somehow, somewhere, a string section (or samples of) make their way into the track, and seamlessly blend with guitar through heavy reverb.

            The title track puts it all in perspective.  Although all the tracks are well-done, this is a major contender for the airspace “College” also deserves.  I must say, I wish I knew where the vocal sample at the beginning comes from, but it escapes me.  The track sounds like both a total acceptance of the night, and darkness itself.  I love anything that captures that true energy and atmosphere of a warm dark starry night, and this delves in and presents the auditory and lyrical equivalent of that feeling of walking in such a night.  It’s a bit like a stripped-down Adore-era Pumpkins song, and retains the positivity of chillwave even through its warm and slightly dark tone.  Guitars set it up, drums drive it on, “1979”-esque synths lift it upwards, bass tethers it to the ground, and vocals bring it home.  And it ends on a perfect note -- literally, like Nine Inch Nails’s “Right Where It Belongs” played by “1979” chorus synths.

            Overall, an amazing atmospheric EP, upbeat and dark in all the right places.  Almgren and Änghede have good reason to be proud of their latest fully-new release (they’ve since released their first volume of B-sides and remixes).  You can stream We Saw the Moon for free at http://heartsofblackscience.bandcamp.com, and purchase CD-quality downloads of their music at that link.  If this EP is any judge, the moon must look pretty great in Gothenburg.

Conjuntos Cartográficos: Paranormal Perfection

            This is a review of Conjuntos Cartográficos (2012) by Matilda Manzana, and the eighth review here on Track-By-Track.  The title means (according to a rough electronic translation) Cartographic Sets, and I’ll use such electronic translations of titles throughout the review in parentheses.

            This is going to be one of the weirdest albums you’ll ever listen to.  It’s like eating food you never thought was palatable before, in a different country, only to realize that it’s actually much better than what everybody likes in your country.  And this is a fine Mexican sonic dish, by Matilda Manzana (Oscar Rodríguez, who describes himself as a producer/disturbed manipulator of sounds, with some additional musicianship).  When I first heard it, there were a few reactions: One of them was confusion; there really isn’t a broad genre that this album can fit into, let alone the hundreds of sub-genres I've heard of.  Rodríguez coins the term "tropigaze" for some of his songs, though there are many styles on the album.
            Think of it as an experiment between Radiohead, The Orb, and Danger Mouse, working with material co-written by Sonic Youth, Brian Eno, and some amazing flamenco groups who also provide samples of their songs to work with.  And that’s not even close to describing the sound.  It’s just the closest I can get.  This is the first time I’ve ever listened to something that made me feel simultaneously uneasy, queasy, amazed, intrigued, and overall in wonder, in the most positive way those could congeal into an atmospheric and tantalizing jelly.
            And that’s the reason I’m doing this review of an album that at the very least is an alternative release.  There are some alt-rock sounds, of course, mostly masked by hyperactive and hyper-artistic beats and tones, but enough for me to consider it not a purely electronic release; the second-last song definitely has shoegaze elements, and most of the album displays some kinds of alt-rock influences.   Well, let’s see if I can even barely describe the sounds I hear.
            Here’s my TBT:

            The album opens with “Ciencias Naturales” (“Natural Sciences”).  Before going on, I must mention that I don’t understand much more than “si” in Spanish, so I can’t really talk about lyrics, especially in this one with loads of them.  It starts off with strange synths, and a heavy yet lighthearted and clean beat.  Strange whistling and hi-freq synths lead into the part with the vocals.  Lead vocals are sung in an uneasy and emotive style, with extremely airy and sensual backing vocals.  There are fast parts and slow parts, but really, it’s beyond recognition to say I know what at least half of this track is.  Maybe some kind of Latin beat?  The melodic elements play off of slight discord to create a really interesting atmosphere.

            “Pez Espada” (“Swordfish”) has great nylon-string samples, and the lyrics seem to be a sentance repeated over and over.  I feel transported into a Mayan world, even through kazoos and a clean hardcore-edm-style bass kick create even stranger sounds to be enveloped by.  Vocals are very emotive, and it creates a kind of pleasantly-haunted-outdoors-nighttime environment.  Really, listen to it to figure out what comes to your mind, and tell me.

            “Té De Lluvia” (“Tea Rain”) (featuring Fonobisa), is the third track, and this is where even more confusion and wonder sets in.  What sound like either guitar or ukelele loops are swirling in a near-Samba beat; vocals are nearly scared-sounding; and some amazing manipulation of sound makes the track a bit like The Boredoms.  Reverb, major dissonance, and a sound that sticks in the brain like peanut-butter in the mouth.  In a good way.

            “Prismas” (“Prisms”) comes next, and it seems to be about thanking the cosmos.  It’s very positive-sounding, and then comes the temporary break in style half-way through.  Most of the time, there are raindrops of different tones and sounds, and perfectly equalized vocals, but when most of the sounds cut out, there’s a nice bongo and guitar moment that reminds you that you are, in fact, still listening to music and not just the coolest noise that drifts in and out of melody.  Even the end of this track is almost an entirely different song, which is a good way of describing the album: A collection of songs within songs, each part of each one so different that it’s almost inconceivable that anyone was able to find any of them, let alone mix them together.

            “Marula” ("Nipple") is the fifth track, and it’s a bit like second-generation console video-game music.  That is, performed by Air and Sia.  It’s instrumental, though so paradoxically complex yet simple in construction, that it gives a new value to instrumental tracks.  This is called raising the bar for alternative artists to create instrumental tracks that stand on their own without lyrics.

            The title track comes next, and be prepared for more beautiful dissonance.  By this point, the album has transformed the senses into its own world, with soft shoegaze guitars low in the mix, frantic vocals, and a strong electronic beat, and syncopated and conflicting beats and sounds all competing in a chaotic and wonderful amalgamation of music.  This is, I suppose, a kind of alternative rock, because there is some focus on guitar, but it, like everything else on Conjuntos Cartográficos, is unclassifiable, at least by me.  Just keep your ears open for the pastiche of sounds at the end: I won’t explain it away.

            “Aránda” (“Huckleberries”) (featuring Crocat), is a mainly electronic track.  It’s a bit hip-hop, a bit downtempo, and a bit psychedelic.  It has some dreamy vocals, covered in soft reverb, and some guitar on occasion.  Loads of odd noises turned into beats, and some Rhodes organ sounds.

            “Himnos Estudiantiles” (“Student Anthems”) (featuring Installed), starts off with a dark and pretty lo-fi sound, and then the mood is quickly interupped by what sounds like a party of music.  Very Latin, with electronic and acoustic sounds.  The end pleasantly surprised me, with its brief lo-fi folkiness.

            “Debemos Despertar” (“We Must Awaken”), the ninth song, sounds like a love song.  It’s so melodic after the rest of the album, and though the vocals go off-tune for the sake of capturing the emotion of the moment, it’s not a sacrifice in vain.  It’s the calm after the storm, and the chorus is the icing on the cake.  Guitar and bass are wonderfully warm, with soft glancing synths, and a nearly decimated drumbeat.  Just the right levels on everything, and sometimes the vocals really get to me, even though I only think I understand a word of them -- “Gorgeous” being both what I think the word is, and an apt description of the song.

            “Belmopán” (the capitol city of Belize) is a shoegaze song, like somewhere between Slowdive’s Souvlaki and Pygmalion albums.  It doesn’t start out immediately, but vocals and guitar drenched in reverb take over soon enough, and give it an otherworldly sound like looking at multicoloured clouds being reflected in water.  Songs like this are reasons music gourmets never have to do drugs.  It feels a little long before the fast part, but when it speeds up, the sound is all-encompassing.

            “Ciencias Paranormales” (“Paranormal Science”) has oceans of reverb and incredibly soft shoegaze-style guitars.  This one has vocals that sound like they’re through a megaphone, in the beginning.  It’s an alternate version of the first track (or perhaps a continuation), and sounds like a journey through the otherworldly; much like the whole album.  It’s warm and atmospheric, with soft nylon-string guitars, some super-processed piano, and a slower pace as compared to most of Conjuntos Cartográficos.  The end brings some electroacoustic noises to the table for a perfect ending, and even the last note is right in place.

            Overall, Matilda Manzana has created a masterpiece; something that both defies explanation, and encourages it.  After hearing Conjuntos Cartográficos, I’ll never look at music the same way again, and knowing that in some tracks even shoegaze can mix with Latin beats, it’s opened up a new world of exploration for alternative rock as well.  You can stream and download the album (and more) in better-than-CD-quality for pay-what-you-want prices at: http://matildamanzana.bandcamp.com.  Play it in the bath, at outdoor late-night candle-light ghost-parties, or when your face is off your skull, like the album cover.

Anastasia: Water and Warmth (the good kind)

            This is a review of the album Anastasia (2013) by Spirits of Leo, and the sixth review here on Track-By-Track.

            I found Spirits of Leo during a frantic and nearly-depressing search for shoegaze through the annals of the badly-keyworded and morbidly under-produced Internet.  Fortunately, I found the Spirits of Leo release, Anastasia, and was lifted out of the near-depression by its very watery and melodic shoegaze/chillwave tones.
            I was surprised by Spirits of Leo being a solo-project, though I did think the band was in surprisingly good synch, both melodically and conceptually.  California-based Ryan Santos Phillips wrote, produced, and performed the entire album.  Despite a few blips, the mastering is of an extremely high quality; and blips are barely noticeable even at the levels I poured the album into my ears.
            With that mental image in mind, here’s my TBT:

            “Woodland” is an instrumental introduction track, reminiscent of early Pumpkins, which continues to grow into a shoegaze track (Slowdive-style), with soft layered vocals and guitars.  The pitch-treated guitar is a bit like old metal intros that were too-quickly interrupted by the main parts of the songs.  I’m happy to say this one doesn’t get kicked out by drums before it’s had its chance to create ripples of emotion.  It leads into the next track.

            “The Pendant You Wear” has some deeply melodic vocals, and starts with drums like “Tonight, Tonight”, but quickly changes into a more modern-sounding, .  It’s an atmosphere with a strong hair-metal-esque beat, and abundant vocal, guitar, and bass beauty.  Vocals and the overall tone are like M83 meeting U2 and Love and Rockets.  Guitars lift, and bass glues in place, with some low-in-the-mix but equally uniform synths at the end.  Every listen enhances the enjoyment of the track to surprising heights.

            “Dead Limbs of Winter”, an instrumental track, comes next, and thankfully, the gapless format of the first few tracks doesn’t end here.  It’s plaintive and pensive, and almost an ambient track.  Winter definitely comes to mind while listening to it.  Soft chorus-effected guitars, and an ambient synth landscape below, bring out and lead up to other layers.  Bass comes next, with a certain warm strength, and vocalizations and drums finish the track’s progressive etherial structure.

            “Ghost Story” is faster, with a slight chillwave influence.  It’s like an 80s track, but put through a reverb chamber.  The vocals are extremely low in the mix, but the lyrics, fortunately, are provided.  There’s a ghostly atmosphere, though the drums at times are a little loud.  It’s about atmosphere, like the rest of the album.  There’s a heart to it unseen in most songs on the modern hit channels.

            “Raccoon” is the next track, and it breaks up the gaplessness from before.  It only has four short lines of lyrics, but the upbeat atmosphere and sparse vocals make them stretch to the fullest.  Bass and guitar combine well, and the central riff is well-worthy of a Brit pop band like Trash Can Sinatras.  It’s catchy and happy, without forgetting the overall watery and warm tone.   It very slightly leads into the next track.

            “The Fog (Angels)”, the 6th track, is a slower one, with a longer intro, and clearer vocals.  I’d liken it to Slowdive, because the guitar, bass, and drum tracks have that watery, softly complimentary quality.  Short but great lyrics sung expertly through modulation give the track a sound like returning home (or a comforting place like it).  The lyrics, and the way they’re sung, have an unusual and otherworldly, yet ancient-sounding structure.

            “Idle Talk” is the hit song, despite how good the rest of the album is.  The bassline and guitars are catchy and the lyrics fit the track perfectly.  It sounds like a song to walk outside in the fog to, surrounded by neon and streetlights.  A great positive return after an emphatic lull in the track, and harmonies to the extreme bring out a kind of loving yet cold warmth.  The drums are old-school, but not simple 808s.  And the ending is classic.  Brief strange sounds lead into the next track.

            “Elysian Fields” is definitely like big ‘80s/early ‘90s pop, with some retro industrial drums forming the beat, and the fast guitar-lines often heard back then.  It transcends with vocals and synths, and later guitar, all chillwavey and Summer-style.  Santos Phillips has somehow structured every one of the songs on Anastasia to a perfect length.  It’s unusual for me to find that all the songs on an album feel just right ending where they end, and in this case, I’m surprised.

            “Anastasia”, the penultimate track, is fast and upbeat, with a nice ambient/dream pop/chillwave genre-blend.  This song lives up to its own lyrics: “You are always in your prime” is a nice description of how this track just builds and creates.  It’s like it’s in a constant state of beginning, even in the ending.  Great basslines, melodic guitar combos, sweet synths, catchy drums, and succulent processed vocal harmonies make this certain competition for “Idle Talk” in the single-field.  The music seems to flow from it, without predictability, even though it could easily see airplay on any hit radio that has the intelligence to see its potential.

            “Spirits of Leo” is the last track, a mainly acoustic track, with great vocals, lyrics, and a melody a bit like The Smashing Pumpkins hit, “Perfect”, but only enough to sound like a slight nod.  The occasional harpsichord-like notes panned far to the right give it a certain ageless quality, and it’s a perfect ending to a near-perfect album.

            Overall, it’s summed up by the first word I said after listening to the album: “Wow”.  A soft strength resounds throughout the slower tracks, and some of the faster ones are dangerously catchy, without being too simple or standard to destroy the alternativeness that makes them unique.  You can stream and download Anastasia for pay-what-you-want, and more Spirits of Leo releases at: http://spiritsofleo.bandcamp.com (Bandcamp is my preferred music-download and finding site).  I can’t imagine the people Anastasia is dedicated to being anything short of proud.