PWNT - Days in the Summer (2021)

Named for the Miles Davis quote "play what's not there," PWNT is the solo project of Kosta Galanopoulos, a Los Angeles-based musician who previously played drums for acts spanning Adam Lambert and like-minded indie pop project Hether (Paul Castelluzzo). Keenly idiosyncratic, however, PWNT's debut album, Days in the Summer, embraces a shape-shifting, hazy, theatrical retro pop that covers some of the common ground between '60s psych-pop, lo-fi synth pop, dreamy bedroom pop, and jazzy lounge music (the latter evident on quasi-instrumental "Sunday Runaway"). Written over the course of several years, the tracks were partly inspired by recording locales including L.A., New York, and Florida. The title track opens with dramatically bent pitches and a pulsing, shimmery wall of noise before quickly settling into one of the album's many enticing bass grooves. Another near-constant of the album, Galanopoulos' ultra-wispy vocals, deliver hopeful, melodic sentiments involving ambitions, before the song ends in a funky jam capped off by a memorable jazz-flute solo. The whimsical spirit and optimism continue on selections with titles such as "All I Want," "Real Thing," and "Sing Me a Song" ("Sing me a song, and I will fall for you") as well as love serenade "Composers." An uptempo entry, it's built of lively bass, driving snare, vibraphone and glockenspiel, and filtered vocals that cast the singer and his subject as "composers of the heart." Later, the yearning "Real Thing" diverges into the '80s with over-saturated keyboard tones. While Days in the Summer doesn't quite feel cohesive despite its summery throughline, its feel-good spirit is as infectious as its grooves.