22 Degrees Halo

Excellent lo-fi bedroom rock from Philly. Sounds like they've been listening to a lot of Duster, Bedhead, and The Microphones/Mount Eerie. Slightly downer vibe, but more calm and introverted than sad. The songwriting is uniformly great; every song is a potential earworm. Cozy production from Fran Lyons, who also sings in this band and used to play in Free Cake for Every Creature. Enough to cause fans of slowcore and adjacent lo-fi nineties rock to drool like Pavlov's dog. All songs great, but start with 4, 5, 8, 9. No FCCs detected.

1. (3:09)—Slow, pretty instrumental. Wavering violin, no drums.
2. (4:06)—Medium-slow, sweet and major key. Duet vocals. Feels slightly Christmasy but I don't know why?
3. (2:56)—Medium-slow, with more duet vocals. Minimal, with whispered vocals. Nice simple keyboard touches.
4. *(4:36)—Slow, with a warped, melting feel. Brushed drums, close mic'd acoustic guitar. "I go to back to Kingston Keith, and see a different, a different me."
5. *(2:37)—Medium-fast. The rock song, heavy and gnarly and sugary.
6. (3:34)—Medium-slow. A little uneasy, with a distorted undercurrent.
7. (4:36)—Slow, pretty. Starts with just gentle acoustic guitar and low singing. Picks up speed, adds drums.
8. *(4:34)—Slow, with a great plodding groove and guitar melody. Nice subtle textures.
9. *(4:01)—Close mic'd, double-tracked acoustic guitar. Undercurrent of brushed drums. Autumnal, heart-rending.