The release of Light Pollution’s first album Apparitions has this young band edging its way into more than just the spotlight here in Chicago. Apparitions is about as impressive as it gets for a relatively new band’s debut with their own brand of psychedelic indie-rock that could be classified as “chillwave.” The band features all the right characteristics that the genre is known for with their swirling, layered synths, with touches of shoegaze and beautiful vocal melodies carefully woven throughout the songs. Light Pollution takes pages from the manuals of bands like Animal Collective, Arcade Fire, and Grizzly Bear but adds a lofty open-heartedness that’s hard to master yet striking when done right.

The whole of Apparitions is a thick layer of psychedelic chaos and is attention-grabbing from the beginning. The album leads the listener gleefully into their world and leaves them standing with a goofy smile on their face.

The album opens with “Good Feelings”, which brings in those layers of quirky synth loops found in bands like Animal Collective. However, drummer Matt Evert adds prominent yet muted 80’s synthpop drums reminiscent of bands like Orchestral Manoeuvers In The Dark and XTC. Guitars and bass bring in the fuzzy disorder of shoegaze but keep their parts simple and only add to the levels of synth, so it’s not too busy. The cherry on top is Jim Cicero’s strong high tenor voice that is powerfully clear across the song’s entire stratum.

Cicero is a beacon throughout all of the songs on this album. He is fearless when unleashing his unique, yet powerful voice and his confidence is much appreciated by those of us who are picky about our vocals (namely, me.).

Light Pollution’s next song, “Oh, Ivory!” features pounding piano found in 50’s sock hop music but blended with washed out, two-part harmony vocals and simple drums. The band also brings in cello and violin flourishes to fill out the song and adds a little xylophone for the adorable factor. The song recalls the likes of The Shout Out Louds, with the high-energy, driving sound and calmer steadier vocals. Cicero makes the song a little more child-like as he sings, “It’s like running fast in circles all the time”.

“Fever Dreams” brings us back to their more 80’s sound with Pet Shop Boys-esque flourishing synths but also adding the more organic drums and guitars found with The Lightning Seeds. Cicero lets his voice blend more into this song, and adds several more vocal levels and singing speeds making for an insanely pretty sound.

I recognized “All Night Outside” from their show at Schuba’s when they opened for A Sunny Day in Glasgow. It was my favorite song in their set and still my favorite song on the album. “All Night Outside” is one of those windows-down-on-a-sunny-day-driving-past-the-lake-with-with-music-blasting kind of songs. It’s where that lofty, open-heartedness of Light Pollution enters, and it does in perfect waves. Taking cues from singers like Sufjan Stevens and Adam Olenius of The Shout Out Louds, Cicero sounds like he’s letting his emotions loose though his vocals in this song. It’s glorious to hear.

Of the whole album, this song feels the most genuine as if it has the most heart. It’s so pleasant to listen to, the band should try and incorporate more of it into their future songs. The steady drums use the perfect amount of cymbals while the guitar wails in its chimey to grimy, feed-back way. I remember watching Cicero and the rest of the band just dance wildly to this song at Schuba’s and loving their uninhibited, freewheeling stage presence. You could tell it was one of their favorites to play, making them one of the greatest bands to watch live.

Apparitions second to last song, “Witchcraft”, plays with some interesting beat techniques. The synths pound out one beat, while the actual drums pound out another, the piano comes in with yet another beat and Cicero sings at complete different rhythm over top the whole thing. Somehow, it all works out and turns into an almost incomprehensibly layered, yet beautiful song. “Witchcraft” shows the levels of complexity that Light Pollution will reach to in order to find new ways of making music. Even if you aren’t a huge fan of the song itself, you do have to take a step back and be a little in awe of all that Cicero has done here to make it work, which it defeinitely does.

I love that Apparitions is Light Pollution’s first album. The band has earned my adoration and respect for making it an intricate, intelligent piece that explores all corners of the chillwave genre and pushes the boundaries of sound, rhythm and emotion.
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Catch Light Pollution on Saturday, July 24 at the Backyard Film and Music Festival!

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Light Pollution – “Drunk Kids”