A prolific D.I.Y. musician from the California Bay Area, Justin Cheromiah began uploading his explorations of various outsider rocks styles (garage rock, punk, shoegaze) under the moniker
High Sunn in his mid-teens. Dozens of releases later, the project made its studio and full-band debut with 2018's Missed Connections, which settled into an exuberant lo-fi guitar pop. With a couple of albums and EPs in between, a year later,
High Sunn offers up its Cleopatra debut,
COFFIN 3Y3S, which sees Cheromiah leaning more heavily into
Cure-esque post-punk moods, synths, and guitar tones. While more brooding than Missed Connections, there's an undercurrent of nervousness on
COFFIN 3Y3S that still captures Cheromiah's jittery youthfulness alongside self-conscious, lovelorn lyrics. That simmering energy is especially evident on up-tempo, danceable tracks like "Coffin Eyes," "Others Can't," and "Planner," which combine the spirits of both late-'70s London and Manchester punk clubs and 2000s house shows. Layers of rhythm guitar, delay, and synth atmosphere lay the foundation for these and most other songs on the album, including the more depressed "Knife" and "Night Walk," which still have steady rhythmic components. Sparer offerings, such as the acoustic-minded, still woozy "Guardpupper" and ambivalent love song "Not Another Poem" are far from outliers, shimmering and yearning with the rest. A key component through the track list is the singer's raw, often mismatched double-tracked vocals, which both reflect and fuel the anxiety of dissatisfied, confessional lyrics. Style aside, in keeping with
High Sunn's track record, it's another set of solid songs. ~ Marcy Donelson