A lovely array of jangly guitars and starry-eyed synth tones stir on “Pretending to Be People,” a fantastic track from Calgary-based band Crystal Eyes and their upcoming album Secret Oscillator, out on November 13th. Accompanied by a music video directed by Your Wild Friend (Ava Wild), the track is described by Crystal Eyes as “about being present enough to see what’s really in front of you — to be able to recognize your own god. Can you be really in the moment? Can you actually feel it all? Can you be everything to everyone?”
Synth-y effervescence glides quickly into a jangly guitar blissfulness and post-punk bass ruminations. “Sit right down, and get uncomfortable,” the dreamy vocals emit. “I just want to make you feel it all.” The beckoning to experience the moment, whether it’s bliss or pain, echoes a carpe-diem sense. Added twinkling pairs with a vocal urging to “know when to rationalize the world,” introspectively delightful as the hypnotic guitar swirls and luminous synths continue to dazzle. Fondly reminiscent of Alvvays’ dreamiest works in its aesthetic, “Pretending to Be People” is a thorough success from Crystal Eyes.
The track has us firmly anticipating the rest of Secret Oscillator, with the band describing their third album as “a future-facing record about the past, losing control and searching for intimacy.”
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This and other tracks featured this month can be streamed on the updating Obscure Sound’s ‘Emerging Singles’ Spotify playlist.
