Aan - Amor Ad Nauseum (2014)

It may take another generation for The Pixies to fade from being a go-to reference point for new groups. But they still stand as an important benchmark on the indie timeline, and definitely will for a while longer. “I Don’t Need to Love” is one of a handful of tracks on the debut by Portland, Ore.–based Aan that evokes those Boston trailblazers, and it's one of the best on Amor ad Nauseum. Frontman Bud Wilson said he hopes the album “listens like cinema,” and we can agree if we’re talking about '80s handheld Super 8 cinema. Much about this collection feels of that vintage: its textures, its clear college rock inspirations, and its bass-drums-guitars lineup. Nary an electronic toy is struck or programmed; it’s all about guitars that feel a bit slanted and enchanted at times, and the perfectly mixed vocals that beguile. But songs like the gorgeous “Loveless Dreams” and “Bubble Bath Bop” are utterly their own, pulsing with the melancholic ease of bands like Port O’Brien or Sea Wolf.