Wondrous Bughouse

About

In 2011, Youth Lagoon's <i>Year of Hibernation</i> hit the ether; it was called a "bedroom recording," but the set by Boise, Idaho's Trevor Powers felt like much more. Eerily intangible but melodic, elusive but memorable, <i>Hibernation</i> mesmerized fans and critics alike. Powers continues in the same vein with <i>Wondrous Bughouse</i>, which somehow feels as amorphous as <i>Year of Hibernation</i> yearned to be under its pesky melodies and song structures. Outnumbering the shapeless bad-trip excursions ("Daisyphobia," "Through Mind and Back") are numerous actual songs, like the lovely "Mute," with Smith's warbly voice reaching through white noise and gurgling keyboard haze, a churning rhythm section, and simple, searching guitar. "Pelican Man" has a Beatles-on-acid vibe that tumbles and glows under a blanket of scratchy reverb, and "Attic Doctor" is a woozy, calliope-soundtracked dream. "Third Dystopia" and "Dropla" build slowly and majestically, with delay and effects pedals running synths and guitars through a time machine that confounds the laws of aural physics. <i>Wondrous</i> is produced by Ben Allen (Washed Out, Deerhunter).

via Apple Music

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