them into musical features, adding a touch of subtle, ambient harmonic elements. Like an audio designed based artwork, this record truly puts your mind into neglected contexts and invites your attention, focus and acceptance as you hear sounds not always readily identifiable, yet part of the world Shively creates with each song. Is “room tone, 1973” a mini homage to Tim Hecker’s Ravedeath, 1972? Probably not, but the melancholic drone, exquisite dissolves and subtle swells should appeal to fans of the latter with Shively’s background in filmmaking adding an avant-garde cinematic sensibility to the entire album. SPELLS – PAST OUR PRIME On this latest — and arguably greatest — record, SPELLS seems to break out of its pop punk mode and embrace more of its garage rock side, even dipping into the realm of angular DC post-punk. What has stayed consistent is how this fivepiece that seems so celebratory and a party band live has lyrics that are poignantly self-aware and sharply observed. The title track is one of the most insightful songs of recent years about aging while clinging to what makes life worth living. This whole record is brimming with themes of loss, coming to terms with and resisting the limitations one has aged into, and solidarity with one’s fellow humans against despair and those aiming most urgently to increase it. UNICORN HITS – S/T Maybe no one but those closest to the songwriter thought Joe Grobelny’s latest band would sound like a vital blend of a noisy shoegaze group, a psychedelic pop project, and Mission of Burma. But this Unicorn Hits EP feels like a leap in a different direction by the former member of Façade, Everything Absent or Distorted, and Le Divorce. The jazz roots of the musicianship and songwriting can be heard in the expert arrangements by Grobelny and his bandmates even as they go off center into bursts of discordant haze as on the wryly humorous and on point, “Lipstick LinkedIn.” Humor aside, this set of songs feels like a surfacing of deep, heavy feelings that have manifested into sonically liberating catharsis. FOR MORE, VISIT QUEENCITYSOUNDSANDART.WORDPRESS.COM 31
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