For fans of The Zombies, Vampire Weekend, The Olivia Tremor Control, windmill pop, and finding the few bright moments in the worst day of your life, Love Aggregates by Asher White relishes in everyday absurdities through a masterfully crafted psych pop sound. A shimmery aesthetic inspired by influences as distant as post rock and surf rock establishes this music as something aspiring to positivity, a presumption constantly challenged by an embattled lyrical tone. However, constant clever turns of phrase insist upon avoiding any dark, depressive tailspins, at first glance seeming to reach upward in desperation for some kind of idealized existence. Upon further inspection, we instead find a speaker documenting misfortune while keeping her heart open to any stray positivity which comes her way, staring into the abyss of coincidence with a classic psychedelic smirk. This celebration of positivity in only the unlikeliest of places, an ode to the flower blooming in a volcano’s caldera or the bright, sunny center of a violent hurricane, sets us on a path to enjoy life in all its strange glory.
