Fertile State

After forming in the late 2010s, Oakland, California-based East Coast transplants Rick Altieri and David Stringi quickly made waves on the outskirts of the Bay Area indie scene with a sound that draws on noise rock, shoegaze, and electronic influences as well as the bittersweet jangle of C-86 inspirations. As Blue Ocean, they honed their sound across three EPs before signing with Slumberland Records for their full-length debut, Fertile State. Perhaps most succinctly described as noisy noise pop, they open the album with an unintelligible "Ode" that establishes their shimmery mix of melody, shifting harmonies, driving rhythms, and clatter, all topped off with a medium-thin glaze of feedback, dissonant guitar effects, and bagpipe-like chaos. Lyrics are more lucid on selections including the bouncy, squealing title track and the dream-poppy "Take a Care," which features octave-apart boy-girl vocal doubling. For the most part, though, words are more of a suggestion, with vocal lines prioritizing melody and warm, human tones over meaning while creating the sense that theres a submerged epic love story within just waiting to break free. The duo take a more experimental turn on the space-aged "Neutron Mob," whose relatively spacious, machinic approach is still doused in echo, and they lean toward proto-punk on the churning, feedback-drenched "Syncnine," with its motorik beat, but even that song is guided by a central pining melody. Even acknowledging the presence here of needling instrumental tracks such as the under-a-minute "Sulfur Jacket," theres something poetic as well as compelling about Fertile States yearning pop and restless blankets of noise. ~ Marcy Donelson