Chillwave is dead and gone, but the appeal of its hallucinatory Balearic grooves hasn't, providing fertile ground for creative artists to nurture weird, smooth fusions. Montrealers Wizaard have cultivated a distinctive enough sound (referred to as "pineapple rock" on their SoundCloud) that it comes through loud and clear on the opening track of their latest album Starfish Buffet. With its beachside disco gleefully torn apart by fuzz guitars, "The Spills" best exemplifies what the album is about: a dance party viewed through both the 1967 and 1989 editions of the Summer of Love. Vocals that have been processed Black Moth Super Rainbow-style add some discomfort to the riffy "Mountain of the Underground," while the too-brief "Narapoia" is an excursion into delirious lo-fi synthpop. The album is truly a buffet to sample."We wanted to build songs that felt fresh, experimental, but also colourful and kaleidoscopic," explain Wizaard in a statement. "Thematically, we were influenced by everyone from rock titans to disco queens, lonely poets, electric eels, Montreal nightlife weirdos and midnight marvels. The whole album tells a story that echoes the past while offering a glimpse into our strangest and warmest futures. Pleasure, dreams and madness prevail." Stream Starfish Buffet below.
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Photo by Melissa Gamache.Phil thought this album title was a Limp Bizkit reference at first. He's on Twitter.