I know Colin Joyce as one of the smarter music journalists operating at indie music’s experimental fringe, someone who’s always tapped into weird, cool shit. He has a new EP out today under the name coolant, and it was produced by none other than Sam Ray, the combustible talent behind projects like Ricky Eat Acid and Teen Suicide/American Pleasure Club. That’s a tantalizing proposition, and it will reward your interest.
Pest, the debut coolant EP, comprises four deeply intimate indie-pop tracks in which Joyce’s trembling guitar balladry is often encircled by harsh distortion. As this plays out on opening track “the lack,” you’ll probably notice a resemblance to Phil Elverum’s work, a similarity that persists on “a heart’s stamina.” Ray captures Joyce’s acoustic strumming with crystalline clarity and a dryness that makes even the prettiest moments feel harsh, and the vocals boast a similar close-miked intimacy. Droning distorted chords are often swirling in the foreground, like the chaos of modern life infringing upon fragile humanity.
With no drums or bass in the arrangement, the music takes on the kind of floating, ambient quality a la Talk Talk’s minimal masterpieces. Later in the tracklist, Joyce’s vocal melodies start to remind me less of Elverum and more of his bedroom-pop disciples, trading out the doe-eyed yearning for something a bit more tender and assured. It’s well worth checking out — and make sure to stick around for Ray’s cascade of pianos at the end, which sends the music spiraling off toward somewhere else entirely.
