Every week at WSUM, our Music Director, Izzi, chooses her favorite new releases to add to our music library. Here are this week's favorites, presented to you by WSUM's Music Journalism Club.
Wild Nothing, Laughing Gas
HIGHLIGHT TRACKS: “Sleight of Hand,” “Dizziness,” “Blue Wings”
GENRE: Indie pop, psych pop
RIYL: Tame Impala, MGMT, alt-J
On Wild Nothing's new EP Laughing Gas, Jack Tatum provides a small bunch of indie pop tracks jam packed with vibes. If you have a Tame Impala or MGMT itch that needs to be scratched, Laughing Gas might just satiate it. With bright synths and groovy bass tones on songs like “Sleight of Hand” and “Blue Wings” and the tropical vibes projected on “Dizziness” and “The World is a Hungry Place” Laughing Gas provides the listener with plenty of opportunities to chill out or get down. – Ayden Schultz
Loving, If I Am Only My Thoughts
HIGHLIGHT TRACKS: “Visions,” “If I Am Only My Thoughts,” “A Mirror for Two Voices,” “Nihilist Kite Flyer”
GENRE: Soft rock
RIYL: Whitney, Junip, Unknown Mortal Orchestra
The warm fuzz of tape hiss envelopes every song on Canadian trio Loving's delightfully intimate new album If I Am Only My Thoughts. Tracks like the opener, “Visions,” clearly draw from a modern soft rock influence, while others, like “A Mirror for Two Voices” and instrumental tracks “January” and “Growing Flowers by Candlelight,” bathe in a sea of delays and spring reverbs. While the band does not offer too much in the way of variety, Loving prove themselves to be a new force in indie folk-rock through their sweet and subtle songwriting. – Jack Karnes
Caspian, On Circles
HIGHLIGHT TRACKS: “Wildblood,” “Nostalgist,” “Collapser”
GENRE: Post-rock
RIYL: 65daysofstatic, This Will Destroy You, Russian Circles
Caspian's 5th full length, On Circles, is atmospherically tense and instrumentally tight. The album kicks off with the dense and cinematic “Wildblood” a track with flowing melodic guitar lines accompanied by heavy and impactful power chords. The album does also have its lighter moments, take the track “Nostalgist” for example. Featuring the vocals of Kyle Durfey from the post-rock influenced emo band Pianos Become The Teeth, the track is uplifting but also retains a pronounced sense of melancholic bittersweetness. Like many of the songs on this album, “Collapser” sounds massive, however, what differentiates this track from the others discussed so far is a very tangible cosmic feel to complement its thick post-rock textures. If you're in need of some new thematic and forceful instrumental post-rock, it's hard to go wrong with On Circles. – Matt Jarosinski
Destroyer, Have We Met Yet
HIGHLIGHT TRACKS: “Television Music Supervisor”, “Have We Met”, “University Hill”
GENRE: Synthpop, indie rock
RIYL: Deerhunter, The New Pornographers, Wolf Parade
On their 12th studio release, Canadian rock band Destroyer created an introspective and mature sounding synthpop album. The album is laden with cryptic but often poetic lyrics on behalf of frontman Dan Bejar. This mixture strikes a healthy balance between jadedness and optimism. The opening track “Crimson Tide” offers a slightly more bitter look at the world (“Chicken s*** singers paying their dues… An actress pays her debt to Satan again and again”), whereas other tracks such as “The Raven” are more uplifting and hopeful. Instrumentally, Have We Met is highly polished and studded with perky drum machines, echoey vocals and new-wave-esque synths. Destroyer can't seem to decide whether they favor more noisy, ambient soundscapes (such as in instrumental track “Have We Met”), or pop-inspired and sugary anthems (“Cue Synthesizer”). Overall, Have We Met proves that Destroyer is still a major force to be reckoned with in the world of indie rock. – Shelby Len
Check out our playlist of this week's featured tracks on Spotify below.
