With his solo project Sindy, Tom Serner (of disco-tinged psych-pop group
Ruby Empress) draws from professed 1980s and '90s influences spanning
My Bloody Valentine,
Radiohead, and
Daniel Johnston. Following his first EP and PNKSLM label debut, Hits for Kids, by less than a year, Sindy's full-length debut,
Horror Head, arrives at a giddy, melancholy indie pop that should appeal to the
Alex G set while also standing on its own. An atmospheric, essentially wordless prelude, "Experimental Jet Set," guides listeners into Sindy's intimate if expansive soundscape with nasally, processed voice effects and shimmery background textures before unrefined drums, strummed guitar, a persistent eighth-note bassline, and more drop in. Hooky, lush, and distorted from the start, the under-two-and-half-minute piece leads into the even briefer, pining "Phantom Limb." That track's brisker, bouncier rhythms support a likewise oversaturated, guitar-based palette. Notable among its instrumentation are simple guitar riffs, trippy reversed noise effects, and a mid-tropospheric, exhaled vocal melody by the sometimes
Elliott Smith-evoking Serner that features phrases including "post-pain trauma." The rest of the album continues in kind, with the dreamily anthemic "Edge-Girl" offering a potential encore selection with its head-bobbing rhythms, warped tunings, and obsessive lyrics (some of them one-liners lifted from Buffy the Vampire Slayer). The only song here to clock in at over three minutes in length, the romantic "Big Scare" forsakes drums for layered acoustic ambience and even some whistling ("I want you to know you're the first day of my life"). Catchy, longing, and sonically immersive throughout,
Horror Head's earwormy hooks and sophisticated construction surpass the "promising debut" label. ~ Marcy Donelson