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I hear ya. I'm none too pleased about the way things seem to be going here lately, too, but where I disagree is the suggestion that this is an album of demos. To me, these sound like complete songs. Lo-fi for sure, but with a lot of care and thought and creativity put into the way these songs sound.

As no. 1 best boi starts, you're hit with a catchy and bright guitar riff, the kind of riff that you're sure you've probably heard in other songs but it doesn't matter because it suits the song so well. As do the vocals, with more than a hint of J. Mascis in their delivery, albeit drenched in reverb and double/triple/quadruple tracked. It does make the lyrics pretty hard to decipher, which is a shame because I think they're really quite strong, but it's a worthy sacrifice for the vibe that this whole album gives.

I'm a little less convinced by the vocal mixing in the second track, deal, where a mix of shouted singing and deep breathy vocals sit a bit uncomfortably in my ears. Perhaps that's the point? I'm not sure, but it distracted me rather than feeling coherent with the rest of the track. A shame, too, because otherwise it's an energetic and punchy indie song, complete with a near-perfect spiky lead guitar part right at the end.

There's a real sense of nostalgia to these tracks. It's possibly just my own personal nostalgia, but it's all cut from the same cloth as bands like Pixies, Dinosaur Jr., Lemonheads, and early REM. A style I've always had a real sweet spot for and so this album's hitting just right. This is all especially true of the pure indie pop banger, driveway talk, which is my favourite song here.

The album closes out with the epic o! omnipresence!, a song that has a real sense of weight to it, with its subtle ambient synths, melancholy guitar riff, and mantra-like chorus. It absolutely should be the last track and it works so well here. It's confident enough to take things slow, leaving space for everything to breathe, allowing for it to plug directly into your soul.

Great great great stuff.