Album: Sun Airway, Nocturne of Exploded Crystal Chandelier (Dead Oceans)

As an intimation of musical intention, the title Nocturne of Exploded Crystal Chandelier pretty much nails it here, Philadelphia duo Sun Airway dealing in a miasmic drone-rock that brings to mind My Bloody Valentine collaborating with The Flaming Lips.

The singer Jon Barthmus has a taste for imagery both cosmic and oceanic, offering to "lasso you the moonshine" in "Oh, Naoko" and fantasising that he "woke up as a snowflake on an ocean" in the opening "Infinity", a dense sussurus that envelops the listener like a fibreglass blanket. A sense of awestruck wonder permeates tracks such as "Swallowed by the Night", though when Barthmus tries to deal in more human terms, with the inverse "Ebony & Ivory" schtick of "Shared Piano", the results are less successful.

DOWNLOAD THIS Infinity; Swallowed by the Night; Waiting on You