CRYSTAL STILTS play Sneaky Dee’s May 22. See listing. Rating: NNNN
Inching ever popwards following their blissful 2009 single, Love Is A Wave, New York City five-piece Crystal Stilts get even more melodic on their sophomore album.Opening with an unsettling György Ligeti-esque crescendo, In Love With Oblivion is a more lucid take on the qualities that have made the band a favourite among record-collecting types, namely their affinity for mixing quaking, late 60s garage with 80s shoegaze wallflower vocals.
The stillness in singer Brad Hargett’s reverbed baritone instills each song with spooky ambience and creates interesting tension. One moment he’s evoking Jim Morrison on stoner mind-meld Alien Rivers, and the next he’s leading fun, shambolic romps like Shake The Shackles and Through The Floor. Oblique by pop standards, the album’s full of raw, tightly wound energy.
Top track: Shake The Shackles
