Every Wednesday, the ugly hug shares a playlist personally curated by an artist/band that we have been enjoying. This week, we have a collection of songs put together by Brooklyn-based group Nara’s Room.
Through the deliberation of sifting noise and strong lyrical intuitions, Nara’s Room has always circulated around the production of dreams and the reverie towards real life environments that front-person Nara Avakian so vividly samples from the day to day. Gearing up for their new EP, Glassy star, Nara’s Room has become a standout group here at the ugly hug, leaving your soul crunched and your ears tender, but in no way deterred by the experimental spirit and sincerity of the artists at hand.
About the playlist, Nara shared;
This is essentially what is playing in my room when people are over, or when I’m in the passenger seat of the car. The songs I added to the playlist are songs that have stuck with me for a long time. My bandmates Brendan and Ethan and our producer James added some songs too because they inspired the sound of the record as much as I did. I asked them to add songs that they found themselves referencing when we were writing and recording. Stuff they’d play in their rooms that made them want to pick up their instruments.
Glassy star is set to be released this Friday October 18 via Mtn. Laurel Recording Co. Nara’s Room will be playing an EP release show at Baby’s All Right on November 4th along with Mtn. Laurel label mates Sister. as well as Told Slant. Get tickets here.
Written by Shea Roney | Cyanotype by mamie heldman
Chicago’s own Kristyn Chapman, performing under her new project name Morpho, has shared her latest single “Half of Two” today, marking the second single released from her upcoming debut EP, Morpho Season, out November 15 via Hit the North Records. As an expansive guitar player, having played across Chicago’s beloved underground scene for some time now, Chapman melds ferocious grit with alluring delicacy as “Half of Two” expands on natural endings and the fear within the uncertainty that can follow.
Partnering up with Henry Stoehr of Slow Pulp to mix the EP, “Half of Two” sets out with a determined drive, waiting with astonishing patience to explode, as little glimpses of feedback manage to escape throughout Chapman’s steady melody. Written back in 2021, “this song’s about finally making peace with endings,” she explains. “Untangling from the past and old stories.” The song soon breaks from its enduring groove into a vivacious guitar solo, swarming amongst crushing distortion, toned feedback and melodic temptations, finding its own ending as Chapman sings, “It’s beyond mending / Can’t undo the unraveling / Beyond mending / Can’t undo the unravel,” settling within the layers of her gentle vocals.
Listen to “Half of Two” here along with an accompanying lyric video.
Morpho Season is set to be released November 15 via Hit the North Records. Morpho will also be embarking on an East Coast and Midwest tour with fellow Chicago group, Rat Tally. They will be celebrating the EP’s release with a show at Schubas in Chicago, IL on December 12 with support from Rat Tally and Sprite. You can buy tickets here.
Written by Shea Roney | Featured photo by Leah Wendzinski
Last week, Lindsey Verrill (Little Mazarn) and Genevieve Poist (Virginia Creeper) banded together to share ATX x AVL with Love, a 26-song compilation album of local Texas artists benefitting Hurricane Helene victims in western North Carolina. The funds raised by this comp between 10/11-10/31 will all be donated to ROAR Western North Carolina. You can purchase the comp here at the Little Mazarn bandcamp page.
The comp, made up entirely of local Texas artists, includes contributions from A.L. West, Proun, Will Johnson, Other Vessels, Joey Reyes, Crushrose, Creekbed Carter, Virginia Creeper, Middle Sattre, Gilded Lows, Felt Out, Little Mazarn, Bill Baird and Large Brush Collective.
It’s collaborators, Verrill and Poist, shared in a statement, “watching helplessly as the news of Hurricane Helene tearing its way through the heart of Western North Carolina reached us here in Austin, Texas, we banded together with some of our favorite local musicians to create a collection of songs to help raise funds for mutual aid efforts in WNC. It is difficult to know how to tangibly help in moments like these, especially when need and attention is called for in so many directions, but we hope this compilation will help contribute to North Carolina’s rebuilding efforts in even the smallest of ways, further Central Texas’ solidarity with those affected by the hurricane, and share some of our favorite music with you as you go about your days.”
Every Wednesday, the ugly hug shares a playlist personally curated by an artist/band that we have been enjoying. This week, we have a collection of songs put together by Philly-based artist Peter Gill of 2nd Grade.
Through the vast array of sounds and characters that have come out of the intimate Philly scene, 2nd grade has always been one to stand out with cult-like enjoyment. With several new singles of belt-busting hooks and chivalrous punk attitudes in their pockets, 2nd Grade is gearing up for their upcoming LP, Scheduled Explosions, as Gill and co. return as the indie pop super force they have proven to be time and time again.
Along with his playlist, Gill shared a blurb about its theme;
“My first concept for this playlist was “songs I would play in the getaway car during a bank robbery”, but the nervous energy of that playlist was a bit much. It started with Count Basie and quickly moved to Chavez and U.S. Maple. I decided to change tack and settled on “songs that constantly get stuck in my head”, which is dangerous in its own way. I start humming these songs, and suddenly I can’t remember the last five minutes and I’m taking wrong turns on the way to work. These are largely off-balance melodies full of interesting intervals and waterfalls of notes, and they all seem to express a fun fascination with the craft of pop melody. Weapons-grade stuff really, proceed with caution…”
Scheduled Explosions is set to be released October 25th via Double Double Whammy and you can preorder it here.
In a telling glimpse of both devastation and redefined beauty, Toronto-based artist ZINNIA, the pen name of Rachael Cardiello, shares “Always A Romantic”, the next single from her upcoming album, Dollar Store Disco, set to be released February 7, 2025. Described as a divorce rager, Cardiello searches for self-preservation and joy throughout the record, as “Always A Romantic” echoes within the hollow feelings of solitude and the comfort lead by newfound clarity.
Like the weight of heavy eyelids, “Always A Romantic” drifts into a soothing moment of stillness, blurring out the world as an absorbing piano fluctuates with intensity, animating only what we can feel around us. Although the instrument is isolated in this rather spacious track, the singular voice that it leads becomes the benchmark for retainment and release as Cardiello’s powerful vocal range explores the room. “I really thought I was a romantic / I really thought you were worth it,” she sings, reflecting on a once fulfilling relationship now broken and fading with a tender and soaring performance.
About the song, Cardiello shares, “‘Always A Romantic’ arrived years after the wreckage of my divorce from the quiet of a hard-fought-for stability. There is a stickiness in letting a new truth settle into your body when you believe another story to be true. There is an almost physical whiplash of coming to terms with, and integrating that change.”
“Always A Romantic” is accompanied by a music video, both filmed by and starring Oriah Wiersma. In a decaying house, flashing hints of a once connected appearance, what is left becomes a search for the stories now lost, only to live within the people that once called it home. “When Oriah and I talked through possible movement for this piece, I kept returning to the way Ginger Rogers used to bend back in Fred Astaire’s arms when they danced. How she was so terrifyingly open and malleable amidst the dips and twirls,” Cardiello shares about the video.
Watch the music video for “Always A Romantic” premiering here on the ugly hug.
Dollar Store Disco is set to be released February 7, 2025 via the Montana tape label Anything Bagel. Preorders of the record will be available this Friday, October 11.
Through the faulty wiring and warm hiss of old tape recorders, Chicago’s latest addition, Harrison Riddle, has offered up his latest album, Lo Stereo, taking over the static waves and ecstatic ears of the local scene and beyond. Having performed under the pen name Riddle M since 2018, Lo Stereo finds Riddle in a continuation, arranging episodic moments that live out their own concise lives in the limelight of DIY antiquity and absorbing pop hooks.
Where flying cars and chrome exteriors used to imply happier times ahead, Lo Stereo kicks off with the retro shine of “Keyhead (Outer Space)” – daydreams push through with no intention of landing – “You don’t have to race / Up in outer space”, he sings over laser synths and a pleasant chicken pecked melody. Songs like “Sunset Inn” and “Falling On Off” play out with clunky whimsy, where melodies float through the air with ease above the strength of instrumental voicings that never feel to be restrained by the limitations of lo-fi recording. And to his credit, dusting off the old 4 track recorders, drum machines and synths, these new songs don’t feel weighed down by past sounds or ideas, but rather find Riddle embracing new life in an old and beloved style, bridging the gap between nostalgia and a continuation of homemade pop excellence.
Lo Stereo Limited Edition Homemade CD
Throughout all of the methodical interpretations that each song offers in their own unique way, Riddle’s performance and attitude towards writing becomes a needed reminder of how much fun making music should be – a marvelous feeling of universality that comes when connecting the world around you with silly stories and cordial characters. Songs like the clinky folk ditty of “Peaches and Cream” or the riff spilling of “Scarecrow” exudes charm and personality that sits with you long after the initial listen. “Silver Dollar Queen” jangles and dances along with its vibrato melody and driving hook, while “Bubbles” and “Pin Holder” find the off-center pop sensibilities of lived in new wave classics. There is a soothing pull to the studious electro motives that shine with a rusted sheen throughout the album, where songs like “Sleeping On Earth” and “Modern People” fit neatly between rugged rockers like “Fight Little Truffle” and “Bird Claw” that could easily be a part of the substantial catalogs of bands like Guided By Voices or The Magnetic Fields.
The album takes a turn as the end becomes inevitable – not so much a crash landing, but a quick return to our own atmosphere and the notable gravitational restraints. “Haunt In Bed” vibrates with darkened synths while accolated, ghostly vocals come out to say their brief piece before they are off on their way to complete other ghostly tasks. “Waken (Your Love)” brings a natural ‘down-to-earth’ ending to a rather adventurous collection of songs, as a heavy, somber synth is brought out by a field recording of light waves finding their own, breaking on the shore with a soothing, methodical washing. It’s quite a distance from where the journey began, but considering the care put into this charming little world, becomes one to take over and over again.
You can listen to Lo Stereo everywhere now. You can purchase a limited edition CD of Lo Stereohere.
Fronted by Diego Clare, a local spearhead to the New York community and a project of influence and vision, their penname D.A. Crimson has shared a new single called “Barrel to Heaven” this week, along with an accompanying music video. Within a controlled burn of sonic dismemberment, Clare’s performance withers and writhes in the face of loss and the complexity of familial altercations when emotions and memories begin to conflict.
Leaping in strides like a choreographed dance, “Barrel to Heaven” begins with a guitar that quickly establishes the thematic weight, further brought to life by an array of sonic voicings and deliberate timbres – dilapidated yet concise; harsh yet sobering when face-to-face with its grand scheme. “When I wrote it, my grandmother had just passed away after I’d spent a month staying with her and my dad at her house in Costa Rica. There was a lot of familial drama between her kids throughout this process, which I just found really upsetting,” Clare shares about the song. As the chorus follows the movement below, singular harmonics flash out at the end of each repeated stanza, “There’s a way out” – reverberating before screeching in exasperation – “Looking down the barrel to heaven”. “I felt especially attached to her home, my memory of which now feels sort of embedded in this song. In any case, those are the things that came through, or morphed into this kind of Hamlet-ass soliloquy about loss and what remains in the wake of it,” Clare finishes.
Along with the release of “Barrel to Heaven”, D.A. Crimson has shared an accompanying music video made by the creative duo known professionally as “The Valdez”, which features both Clare and movement by choreographer, J Gash. You can listen to “Barrel to Heaven” out everywhere now.
Every Wednesday, the ugly hug shares a playlist personally curated by an artist/band that we have been enjoying. This week, we have a collection of songs put together by Dallas-based artist Alex Montenegro of skirts.
The music that skirts has put out over the years has become an escape for anyone who has come across its roaming deliverance, layered charm and heartfelt narratives. Beginning as a DIY project by Montenegro back in 2017 with just a Tascam and a guitar, skirts has since become a full band endeavor and a rotating cast of creatives – still pushing that sincere warmth forward as they build upon new sounds and recording styles with every release. Last month, skirts released “Run”, their first bit of new music since 2021’s LP, Great Big Wild Oak. As guitars rip through the sonic scenery, Montenegro plays a charismatic piano that runs underneath the track, setting spirits in motion and solidifying the groups return with a rambunctious, yet delicate performance.
Along with her playlist, Montenegro shared this blurb as to how it came together;
This is a group of songs I pieced together on a drive from Dallas to Austin. As a Texan, it’s easy to do this drive repeatedly and have it become repetitive, its scenery and landmarks now so familiar to me after countless trips: out of Dallas, Czech Stop, Waco, some cows and a weird caterpillar dome, all along a massive six-lane interstate. Slowly witnessing the vast plains transform into Central Texas’ rolling hills. It is a great time to get lost in your thoughts and place your head on the warm glass and listen to some beautiful songs.
“And my idea of me / Is a place where we fill every corner / With Trinkets and Horses” sings like an open letter, where the past, present and future speak to each other in tones of grace and understanding as things are always uncertain, but each step forward is fulfilled by who you choose to bring along the way. One year ago, Mariah Houston and Alan Howard (Sleep Habits) released Trinkets and Horses, a split EP that has become a point of celebration for the two artists, both in what it has come to represent on its own, as well as what they have accomplished since.
Having met in college, the duo began to collaborate on anything they could, working out the early iterations of what would be their respected solo projects. After college, Mariah moved to New York, where she has since joined the noise-rock project, Plastic, and Alan continues to make music under the name Sleep Habits in New Orleans, where he also plays and tours with artists such as Wesley Wolffe, Noa Jamir, Thomas Dollbaum and hemlock.
As these songs continue to build out their lives, the stories scratch those marks that were left behind; imprinted – irritated and molded to shape, like the markings a harsh wood fence will leave on your skin when you get up from a momentary break. With a blend of twangy daydreams, rooted folk voicings and DIY lo-fi admiration spackling in the cracks, Trinkets and Horses does not just represent a single moment in a creative project, but rather the detailed rhythm and dedicated trust that comes with a friendship.
Recently, Mariah and Alan teamed up with New Orleans-based tape label, Kiln Recordings, to release a special edition CD, marking the first time that Trinkets and Horses can be found in a physical form. Revisiting those beloved songs, the ugly hug got to catch up with the duo, Mariah in New York and Alan driving through Utah on tour, as we discussed how the album came to be, strengthening their creative collaborations, and looking back at the experience one year later.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity
SR: I know that you two have been friends for a long time, but how did this creative relationship start?
MH: Alan and I met at Loyola in New Orleans where we lived across the hall from each other. What are the odds, right? We played in a few bands together, including a wind ensemble, I played French horn and Alan played trombone. And then on the first iteration of Sleep Habits I was singing..
AH: …because I was too scared [laughs].
MH: Yes, Alan was scared [laughs], so I was singing in Sleep Habits and Alan was playing a bit of guitar with me and helping me record some songs. It was very entry level stuff, we were just in college hanging out and making silly songs. Then it just kind of progressed from there to more serious songwriting and more serious collaborations. As we began to release stuff for our own projects, we thought, ‘damn, wouldn’t it be fun to go on tour? Why haven’t we done that yet? Let’s just make it happen!’ But we knew we needed something to tour behind, so we decided to record an EP together.
AH: In the grand scheme of things, it was all kind of very last minute, too. We really just said ‘fuck it’ and just immediately jumped into doing it. I think we uploaded the tracks a week before we left for the tour.
SR: As you were putting together the track list, you two were pulling out a few songs that you wrote individually that had been demoed and back-pocketed for awhile. What was the timeline in which you wrote these songs?
AH: It was pretty different for all three of my songs. “Little Smile” is pretty old and then “Pavement” was already on a Julia’s War comp in 2022. “Trinkets and Horses” was a pretty fresh song that I was messing around with at the time and just really came together.
MH: I had written “Promise” while I was living in Portland and the other two more recently. I actually wrote “Backseat” right when I moved to New York and then I wrote “Different Now” on New Year’s Day of 2023.
SR: A fresh start?
MH: Trying to [laughs]. I had done that this year again too. Maybe this could be my tradition. It feels really good.
SR: Throughout the EP, there feels to be this thematic throughline of redefining placement and growing up that really sticks out. Were there any overarching themes that you were looking to build upon or connect when choosing which songs to include?
MH: We didn’t really have a concept for this EP, so I do think a lot of the themes were accidental. It is funny to reflect on each song now and see how they overlap, because intrinsically, Alan and I have a lot of similar influences and we’ve known each other for almost seven years and have been collaborating since we met. So there is a lot of crossover in the kind of emotion and themes that come out in our songwriting. We also had a similar pace of upbringing, me being from the Midwest and Alan from Baton Rouge, we both had an itch to experience more about life, so there’s a lot that we both reflect on that feels similar.
AH: There were also a couple of songs that we were thinking about finishing that didn’t make the cut and may be too far gone to return to. But all of the decision making was very mutual.
MH: I decided to include “Backseat” at the last minute and Alan decided to include “Pavement”, which would both be considered more of the commercial songs, so we had a lot of discussion about the vision and style. But ultimately I think we just had some demos that came together naturally.
SR: Having both worked so closely together in college, and now covering a lot of physical distance in your collaboration, were there any takeaways about your own creative process that this EP brought out?
MH: Collaborating makes two things easier for me, which is holding myself accountable and executive functioning. We set deadlines for each other, so there was an element that reminded me not to put this off because there’s another person involved. Usually with my own music, I’ll just put a pin in it, but because we both have the tendency to sit on music for a long time, by the time we release it, we’re kind of dissatisfied with it. It’s not an accurate reflection of our taste and our style that we hold presently. But because this was such a quick turnaround, and because we’re working with each other and admire each other a lot, we actually released a project that we felt really confident about and really proud of.
SR: As it was your main goal to go on tour, which inspired you to make this EP in the first place, did these songs find different lives as you traveled and played them night after night? How does it feel looking back on it all now one year later?
AH: It was amazing! It was so fun to play the songs stripped down like they were written, but with single elements that came out in the recording process (Mariah singing with me/me playing slide with her). It felt really good to make new friends and see how people reacted to the music. It really solidified why I love playing music and doing stuff DIY. Especially it being the first tour I ever went on.
SR: Now you are celebrating the one year anniversary of Trinkets and Horses with a limited CD release from Kiln Recordings? What made you want to mark this anniversary by re-releasing the album?
AH: We had always thought about releasing this EP with some extra tracks, like we had these backyard recordings that we did at Carolina’s (hemlock) house in Chicago while we were on tour, so those are on the re-release. And we’ve always just really wanted a physical of the album.
MH: But also, Kiln is based in New Orleans and has supported our friends and our community there, like some of Alan’s other projects and Wesley Wolffe, so it’s exciting to work with them regardless. They are very deliberate, make really great art and on top of it all, they’re people we know personally, so it feels good to collaborate like that with them.
SR: Do you two have any plans to collaborate again in the future?
AH: Yeah, we’ve already been working on stuff together! I’ve been playing bass on Mariah’s new record and she’s going to be singing on my new record. But I mean, if we’re talking about collaboration, to me it feels like Mariah is just part of Sleep Habits at this point. So yeah, definitely gonna have her on the record.
MH: In any formal or full band iteration of my music, Alan will have a place. And if by chance we live in the same place again one day, I know that that will come into fruition. Whether I’m singing or playing guitar I know I’ll have a place in Sleep Habits, and when we record it doesn’t matter where we are, we can always send each other tracks. And I did record some of my album that I’m working on now in New Orleans, so Alan was there with me.
You can now order the special edition of Trinkets and Horses from Kiln Recordings, which includes two never before released backyard recordings of “Pavement” and “Trinkets and Horses” ft. hemlock, completed with a 14 page booklet including the artists’ handwritten lyrics.
While history has proven that amity amongst band members is not necessary to create good music, it’s always special when the depths of a bands’ friendship is palpable in their work. Years of experience playing in bands like Sloppy Jane and Water From Your Eyes speaks to the technical talent of Al Nardo and Bailey Wollowitz, but it’s ultimately this sense of camaraderie that makes their prog-rock band, fantasy of a broken heart, so compelling. The duo’s collaborative friendship dates back to 2017, though up until now, fantasy of a broken heart was confined to a relatively low profile of house shows and occasional single releases. The time spent cultivating fantasy’s identity, or perhaps lack thereof, is discernible in their debut album, Feats of Engineering, a captivating experience doused in honest introspection and eccentric charm.
While fantasy of a broken heart claims that “only isolated artists make original material”, Feats of Engineering is a harmonious dialogue sung in a language that feels completely their own. Lyrically, Nardo and Wollowitz are masters at fusing vulnerable with whimsy. It would be easy to assume an album with imagery of Tony Danza preparing buttermilk pancakes and a possessed Evil Kenevil wielding an “as seen on TV magicians novelty arrow” would amount to a goofy but hollow listen, perhaps engaging in a bit of post-irony ridden social commentary at best. Instead, fantasy’s amusing tangents and bizzare imagery work to enhance the project’s emotional depth. In its entirety, Feats of Engineering is somewhat of an auditory hallucinogen, inviting us deep into an unrefined subconscious reality where the strangest of thoughts are met with rather hard to swallow existential notions. Instead of coming across as a joke you aren’t in on, the album’s vulnerability factor feels somehow amplified by each lyrical peculiarity.
In an auditory sense, fantasy is a maximalist quilt of 70’s prog-rock, 90’s dream-pop, and modern indie-pop, though if you tried to create a list of every subgenre their sound touches it would rival a CVS receipt. Each song on the album has a distinct identity, with its own unique formula of layered instrumentals and varied time signatures. However, amidst their most enigmatic structures, Feats of Engineering successfully stands as a holistic body of work, unified by a discernible sonic ethos and enriched by the soothing harmonies of two voices with an undeniable musical rapport.
The album commences with the trance-inducing “Fresh”, a minute long track that starts off with a steady high pitch car beep, the one reminding you to buckle up or perhaps shut your door. Though the beep is initially attention-seizing, it is soon lost in a mesmerizing synthetic organ melody, and in a brief, word-less 60 seconds, the magnetizing pull of Feats of Engineering has begun. The vibrant “AFV” follows, providing an auditory finger snap to the meditative state induced by the intro song. At its core, “AFV” is a humorous tale of a romantic interaction gone wrong, a palm to the face detailing of a flirting effort mistaken as an attempt to buy weed. The earnest anecdote is paired with an uneasy chorus, as the two harmonize on the repeating lines of “All I wanted was a little sensation”, and “I thought a devil called my name”. Through satisfying hooks and a lavish layering of instrumentals, fantasy of a broken heart harvests structures of an addicting pop track, while balancing a lighthearted story with a desperate longing to feel.
It doesn’t take long to establish that fantasy of a broken heart has perfected the art of writing tearjerkers that pass as chic remixes of vintage television jingles. Loss is the archetype for this, offering a vulnerable testimony to the umbrella concept of “loss”, supplemented by buoyant guitar riffs and animated vocals. The track is burdened by the weighing question of “have you lost it”, but not without the comedic relief of “Where did you put the sword”. “Loss” is not the only song on Feats of Engineering where fantasy sugar coats dreary ideas in bubbly melodies adorned with quirky references. At a recent Brooklyn show, Wollowitz led with “this song is about Pizza”, before diving into “Doughland”, where the duo’s craving for inner peace becomes increasingly harrowing with every “I can’t stand this” they chant. In “Mega”, the toll of an ambiguous relationship dynamic takes the shape of a catchy tune about an extinct giant shark. The title track might hold the most intense juxtaposition of heavy and eccentric, with imagery of tiny men and their adorable miniature safety gear following shortly after a painful reflection of “thoughts of jumping off a broken bridge in Middletown”.
The compelling effect of Nardo and Wollowitz’s harmonies excels in “Ur Heart Stops”, a sonically melodramatic track about the tethers of depression and stagnation. When Wollowitz’s droning is met with Nardo’s shimmery vocals over a series of jolty instrumentals, the repetitive chorus of “Ur Heart Stops” becomes hypnotic, transforming a devastating existential dialogue into a catchy prog-pop masterpiece.
“Tapdance 1” and “Tapdance 2” are back to back tracks that take contrary approaches to exploring the crushings of doubt. In “Tapdance 1”, the lyrics rarely stray from “Nobody knows what you’re talking about”. In “Tapdance 2”, Wollowitz embarks on a tangent of reflective commentary and what ifs, confessing to a habit of overindulging in Pitchfork reviews and dwelling on a “surplus of vision”. In the midst of an excess of thoughts and questions, fantasy of a broken heart gets honest about the blurring between art and interpersonal, while once again toying with the idea that “nobody knows what you’re talking about”.
The album wraps up with “Catharsis”, an appropriately titled delicate ballad that matures into an impassioned crescendo of realization. Around four and a half minutes in, Wollowitz’ soothing vocals erupt into an emotionally charged shout, and the lyrics shift from guarded thoughts of “it means so much to me that it happened at all”, to fervent revelations of “Love is collision, destroying your soul for another”. The two offer one final harmony, repeating “catharsis of the heart is the narcissist’s nightmare” over a pulse-raising arrangement of drums and fierce orchestration. While the album hurdles through a docket of unresolved questions and heavy notions, the intensity of “Catharsis” offers closure to a lyrically and sonically consuming experience, solidifying that Feats of Engineering is not only a collection of quality songs, but an extremely well structured album.
Like many of their fellow Brooklyn-based genre-bending contemporaries, fantasy of a broken heart isn’t here to resuscitate a subculture from decades prior. At the same time, it is abundantly clear the duo has spent ample time listening and deconstructing the most successful structures and sounds, creating arrangements that are equal parts pragmatic and avant garde. Through every nonsensical twist and earnest turn, Feats of Engineering engages in sonic nostalgia while paving a completely original identity, verifying that fantasy of a broken heart is a major band to watch.
You can listen to Feats of Engineering out everywhere now.
the ugly hug 