The third album by these New York-based indie-rockers rings some crucial changes. First, bandleader Will Anderson is in love, which alleviates some of the gloom that pervaded earlier records. And while the lyrics don’t amount to much on the page, when sung in unaffected deadpan and robed in artfully embellished shoegazey noise, Anderson’s elliptical poetics carry a compelling weight.
Second, and more importantly, Anderson invited his bandmates into the studio to record Raspberry Moon. Where previous albums had been one-man affairs, with Anderson overdubbing layer upon layer of guitar and synth on his lonesome, the presence of other musicians in the room has shaken up the paradigm. Their trademark walls of fuzz remain, but Raspberry Moon also fields tracks such as Break Right, on which the happy/sad melodies flourish with space to breathe, and the lush Lawnmower, which is practically unplugged (save for a keening thread of feedback in the distance) and utterly lovely for it.
Other tracks hew closer to the Hotline blueprint, but with renewed sophistication. Their sound remains rooted in 90s indie-rock’s fusion of noise and tune (the closing track even shares its title with a landmark Dinosaur Jr LP), but Anderson’s articulacy within this soundworld is impressive. The Scene may recall the corrosive buzz of Sugar and the tremolo swoon of My Bloody Valentine, but Anderson’s mastery of dynamics is thrilling. And the way he weaves acoustic and distorted guitars and blasts of needling feedback into something as beguiling as Julia’s War is evidence of a unique talent operating in a crowded field.