A Taste Of The Atmosphere

Ugly (UK) “In Samphedoo” Ugly (UK) are very polished, precise, and mannered in ways that don’t often overlap, which means they often sound sorta like modern musical theater crafted by people obsessed with American Football and Radiohead’s In Rainbows. The results are intriguing – moments that feel achingly sincere coming in songs that also seem prickly and evasive, lyrics that resist narrative yet hit the ear like a sung-through show. They’re at their best when the contradiction is essential to the emotional impact, like how “In Samphedoo” moves between sections that feel like someone actively avoiding eye contact and parts where it’s as though someone is looking too deeply into your eyes for comfort. Buy it from Bandcamp. Angèle featuring Caroline Polachek & SebastiAn “Love Triangle” The phrase “love triangle” typically implies infidelity and fraught drama, with at least two corners of the triangle at odds with one with another. But this is really more of a ménage à trois song from…