Sixth album from Mat Sweet’s gothic minded solo project. In the place of foreboding folk minimalism or aggressive, metallic textures, Sweet now gives us something that might be called anxiety dream pop. Instrumentals make up a large chunk of the album, but every track has a quality that is simultaneously enveloping, unsettling, and quietly gripping. In the past, Sweet sounded like a phantom letting listeners into worlds defined by enigma, shadow, and understated fear. Now, he’s not a phantom but a human being standing next to us, testifying to the mysteries and shadows we experience collectively every day. Favorites: 2, 3, 7, 8, 10. No FCCs detected.

1. (1:18)—Instrumental. Minimal, dark, with tortured electronics.
2. *(3:27)—Slow, calm, wistful electronic slowcore pop. Lovely.
3. *(5:12)—Medium-fast. Driving toms, piano heavy, subdued, amazing.
4. (1:27)—Instrumental. Cloudy drone.
5. (6:00)—Slow, calm, fragile, pretty. Long outro.
6. (5:25)—Creepy manipulated spoken word. Menacing bass-heavy beat. Dark, metallic ambient textures.
7. *(6:27)—Slow, spacious, minimal beat. Soft, ominous guitars. Lots of samples of crowd noises and glitches. Fake ending, long outro.
8. *(3:42)—Instrumental. Rain sounds and quiet, dark drones.
9. (6:54)—Slow drumbeat. Heavier, repetitive, swirling.
10. *(4:11)—Slow, sad, totally gorgeous. With tambourine and synth strings.
11. (3:53)—Instrumental. Cavernous sounds, computers dying at the bottom of a well.