Pantheon Of Me

LOCAL! Minimal, cool, low-lit pop. Spellling (three “l”s) is Tia Cabral of Berkeley, and she composes what she calls “freak faith folk” using a few layers of synth or guitar run through a loop pedal, occasionally accompanied by spare beats. Her singing on top is smooth, carefully controlled, and water-well-deep, placed in service of a slow, introspective, foreboding vibe. On the strength of these self-released songs, she’s been blowing up in the East Bay. (The Express recently put her on the cover.) Here’s hoping for more. You’ll enjoy this especially if you like The xx, MJ Guider, Mal Devisa, Majical Cloudz, Jarboe, a darker Moses Sumney. Favorites: 1, 3, 6, 10, 12. No FCCs.

1. *(3:38)—Electronic wobbles, the softest of beats. Judging by the spooky whistling and retro synths, the house she’s singing about might need an exorcism.
2. (3:52)—Slightly woozy, almost slowcore guitar loop. Whispered, multitracked vocals. Becomes increasingly aggressive and blown-out.
3. *(3:06)—Dreamy, 80s sci-fi synths. Drum pads start soft and limpid then turn darkwave. Reminds me of Not Not Fun.
4. (3:14)—Spacious, soft reverie. Stuttering beat, high guitar, alien transmission synths.
5. (3:18)—Dense, lumbering. Low, sharp synths.
6. *(3:01)—Stars with a slightly bouncy synth line, gets deep and murky quickly. Slowly sinking multitracked vocals, lovely guitar.
7. (2:11)—Stark, dissonant. Dry, slow guitar fingerpicking.
8. (2:47)—Distant, serrated electric guitar. Picks up speed briefly, jumps across three very different beats.
9. (2:57)—Soft acoustic guitar, high feedback tones, heavily manipulated vocals. Cool ominous, noisy outro.
10. *(3:46)—A wordless chorus surrounds Cabral’s main vocal line. It sounds like she’s vanishing into her voice, willing herself into a spectral place. Simple, insistent synth melody.
11. (2:12)—Blown-out, robotic, funk flattened into an alien march.
12. *(2:18)—The closest thing to a straightforward love song here. Deep bass, piano, washes of high drone that remind me of Benoit Pioulard.
13. (2:24)—Dry vocal loops. Granular, slithering synth bass.