There are vocals on Terrible Relics of a Semi-Barbarous Age, the debut EP from Nova Scotia’s Skywriting. They are just buried so deep in the mix you would need a pair of gravediggers to pull them out. Shyness? A deliberate experiment to see how invisible a hook can be and still land? Hard to tell.

What is clear is that I kind of love this lo-fi, even lower-key approach. The guitars are straightforward and not pretending to reinvent anything. The drums feel programmed and unbothered about it. On paper, that should not be enough. In practice, there is something in this fuzzy strain of underground pop that keeps me leaning in.

These songs hum rather than shout. They blur at the edges but hide small melodic payoffs inside the haze. This is the kind of EP that will completely frustrate one listener and quietly win over another who prefers their pop obscured. I am firmly in the second camp, already curious about what they do next.

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