Ontario, Canada-based artist lemon. takes a darker turn on the five-track EP A Fresh Grave, incorporating gothic rock and new-wave influences into an established interest in atmospheric alternative music. Written, recorded, produced, and mixed independently, the release explores isolation, heartbreak, and emotional detachment while extending the project’s earlier work on Cemetery Shopping and Gloomer.
The EP’s title track enamors with a whirring, fuzzy upfront energy, with warming guitar distortion and twangy adornments casting a late-night spell. A memorably suave vocal presence follows, layered with multi-pitch emotion from introspective verses to the hooky vigor apparent in the chorus, culminating in the infectious “fresh new grave” refrain. Woozy vocal tones and fuzzed-out guitar warmth propel this enjoyable opener, while the ensuing “streetcar” opens with a jangly immersion before expanding into a shoegaze-y spaciousness, enveloping throughout its dreamy, laid-back vocal builds and droning shoegaze effects.
Another standout track, “haunt me” rides on a delectably post-punk guitar twanging and background synth shimmering. It’s fitting that the vocal inflection on this production bears a fond resemblance to Robert Smith, fondly resembling The Cure in the shifts from the yearning verses to the soaring “you haunt me” repetition. Throughout the A Fresh Grave EP, lemon struts a consistently melodic and well-produced fusing of alternative, dream-pop, post-punk, and shoegaze, making for a wholly resonating listening experience.
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“a fresh grave” and other tracks featured this month can be streamed on the updating Obscure Sound’s ‘Emerging Singles’ Spotify playlist.
We discovered this release via MusoSoup.
