Object 1 by Flooding

When relationships don’t end with one singular, traumatic explosion, contempt instead seeps in through the cracks in the walls, suffocating us over time in a stew of malaise that boils over into inexplicable rage. This sort of omnibus discontent animates the new EP Object 1 by Flooding, a post-indie-rock experiment in darkness, discord, and despair. Gargantuan, clean walls of guitar and vocals draw instant connections to the shoegazy power pop we see everywhere right now, but harmonically devious bass lines and intermittent moments of outright guitar dissonance point in a direction much more aesthetically sinister. What could have been a tongue-in-cheek, intentionally juvenile breakup album ruptures into an uncomfortably honest depiction of abstract meltdown, an ode to an image-obsessed partner whose vanity sets our narrator into a blind rage. However, later moments on the record point to an even darker pivot inwards. They’re image obsessed, but we’re blasting our own words through an amplifier. They’re seemingly unscathed, but we’re torn to pieces, left wondering if we just severed this connection out of a misplaced hatred of ourselves.