Compact Disc (CD), Bag, Cassette, Vinyl LP, T-Shirt/Apparel
The sweetly melodic, emo-leaning music of Subsonic Eye draws heavily on ’90s indie rock. Importantly, however, the Singaporean quartet uses unfettered energy to mold that well-worn sound into something positive rather than derivative. On their third album, Nature of Things, their gleaming hooks hit exuberant heights, doled out in compact, pulse-escalating bursts.
The band’s adrenaline flows fastest on tracks like the swirling “Fruitcake,” the sprinting “Further,” and closer “Unearth,” the last of which spend its five-minute duration in a state of constant acceleration. But the group also show restraint: “Kaka the Cat” is a ballad to veterinary mishaps, while mid-tempo pieces “Cabin Fever” and “Animism” shine with the youthful ache of summer break, balmy and ephemeral. These steadfast displays of emotion, whether aggressive or soft, are Subsonic Eye’s greatest asset: By effortlessly juggling mood without slowing down or stopping to question themselves, they give an age-old ethos new life.
