Cryogeyser - Glitch (2019)

At first, it’s tempting (if wrongheaded) to immediately dismiss fresh Los Angeles trio Cryogeyser from the first few seconds of their debut album, Glitch. Chorused, reverbed guitar under tuneful, leaden vocals in the style of thousands of indie/dream-pop/sadcore bands before them? It’s pretty, but there’s no guarantee that this band has anything specific to offer relative to any other band attempting this sound, and yet one song turns into two songs that then turns into lead single “Leach” and a bigger, deeper picture starts to form. For one, it becomes clear that the band is committed to that guitar sound for the entirety of the album, and what should absolutely lend a staidness to the album’s 13 tracks instead creates a complete, thoughtful habitat that emphasizes how certain parts of these songs jump out in your memory. The aforementioned lead single is arguably an early peak, an exquisitely-built narcotized ode to romantic regret that the band tempers like chocolate. Shawn Marom’s vocal melody rises and rises as drummer Jeremy McLennan closes the gaps between the hits, and the songs builds to a searing conclusion as Marom layers their vocals over and over until the effect is chilling. Marom’s voice is a vital ingredient of the album’s moody character; each note escapes their throat like a straight line, the plosives hitting softly in a broadly controlled, cutting performance that contributes to the album’s hypnotic sense of environment. Their words allow songs like the enigmatic “Marie,” the suddenly surging “Waiting” and fitting closer “Co-Star” to stick in the brain, even as those consistent swaths of reverb do ultimately smudge the lines together. Perhaps finest of all (when they’re discernible) are Marom’s lyrics, built from simple, sweet poetic turns of phrase that lay bare a cycle of longing and loss without dipping too far into cliché. Cryogeyser’s presented a fully-formed approach that should by all means read as colorless but, by virtue of its intense focus and solid overall songwriting, instead becomes a cohesive, alluring dive into the deep blue waters of lovelorn melancholy that shouldn’t be missed.