Bleep

On her third studio album, New Zealand artist Tamaryn ventures further away from her shoegaze roots. Released on her long-time label home, the Brooklyn lo-fi institution Mexican Summer, Cranekiss swaps rough-edged, muggy guitars for cleaner post-punk chords, washed out synths and cheap drum machines, yet still perfectly fits the roster’s aesthetic. Tamaryn’s voice continues to be covered under thickly veiled layers of reverb and therefore blends in seamlessly with the keys, but is readily identifiable. She seems braver, the overall sound tidier, not as heavily piled as on 2010’s The Waves or 2012’s Tender New Signs. This relief is reflected in the change of the harmonic tone which received the most significant makeover: while there’ll always be a touch of unfulfillable nostalgia in Tamaryn’s music, the somber themes of previous work have made way for an apparent sense of hope.