Metamorphoses by Laika

For fans of Willy Rodriguez, Arcade Fire, Gingerbee, classic baroque pop, and the eternal tragedy of Ancient Greek myths, Metamorphoses by Laika grapples with personal responsibility in romantic collapse through an epic narrative of the online noise rock variety. Classic mythical tales get invoked with the traditional archetypes recast as contemporary characters, with intricate lyrical verses surveying the wreckage of a disaster already long since in motion. With a willingness to dig into subtler, more ballad-esque forms than many other artists in their cohort, Laika harnesses the lo-fi power of acoustic guitars, auxiliary percussion, and horns alongside this genre’s standard fare of drum kits and distorted electric guitars to let us stew in the sheer emptiness of loss, with the rare emotional climax given extra power through this overall tempered approach. When that peak subsides, we’re left in that abyss of lack, left wondering forever how we could have lived if we could have just done this or that a slightly different way.