Doldrums – Lesser Evil

From the opening of Doldrums' eccentric debut album, you're in for treats. Recorded on a laptop borrowed (or lifted, if you believe the interview in this month's magazine) from Grimes, using entirely analogue gear, it's a work of ambitious, experimental indie-pop, sans guitars, recorded with the same breathtaking adventurousness in terms of production and arrangement as the work of Grimes and fellow Canadians Purity Ring.

We get looped, cascading vocals on the blissed-out Anomaly, tumbling into harsh, overlapping squelches and synths on the punishing, punk-infused She Is The Wave; the dream-pop harmonics of Sunrise explode into the Blondie-rififng, exalted pop-rock-meets-techno of the matchless Egypt; and the carnivalesque pop hooks of Live Forever. The album's mercurial, restless pallette is anchored by Airick Woodhead's plaintive falsetto and boldly imaginative songwriting; Lesser Evil reveals him as a unique new voice in experimental pop. [Bram E. Gieben]