Pittsburgh-based project Erro, led by multi-instrumentalist Nikki Stagel, impresses again with Shadowland, a new album that fuses shimmering pop-rock textures, ethereal dreaminess, and raw, performance-driven candor. The album balances intimate emotional depth with expansive, cinematic soundscapes that linger long after listening. Last year’s full-length Strawberry Moon enamored with a strongly melodic pull, seamlessly infusing ’60s and ’70s rock inspirations. Shadowland continues to showcase Erro’s knack for high-quality songwriting.
The album’s title track opens the release with a riveting atmospheric construction, from initial gentle acoustic strums to trickling intrigue and twangy warmness. Doses of glistening keys bolster the consuming soundscape, while the vocal emergence past the one-minute turn — beckoning to “keep it together” — delights from debonair tonal charm into the “summer goes on forever” emotive ardor. “Looking for you all over town, here in the shadowland,” Erro’s vocals culminate, briskly magnetic there and into a grippingly cinematic-forward, string-laden outro.
Another standout track, “The Watcher” is a rousing success. “Have you met the watcher on the hill?” the vocals ask, ascending into a hooky “if your heart’s not in it” spirited refrain — enjoyable in its span from late-night rumbling introspection to brass-struck charisma. Elsewhere, “Dragonfly” succeeds in the grittier realm, weaving nocturnal synth elements and “in the end, it doesn’t matter” lyrical grimness — showing shades of Kate Bush in the synth work. Finale “Over Me” stirs as well, particularly in the “read you like a book” synth-ready illumination; the album consistently compels in such displays of structural momentum, from dreamier lushness to spirited art-pop invigoration.
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We discovered this release via MusoSoup.
