Electronic rhythm, electric guitars, eclectic groove. Altogether lightning and extremely striking. Doomsquad brings together digital ambience, with velvet-smooth melodies and a serious funk. Three siblings and a metric ton of musical talent. Their new EP ”Pageantry Suite” contains some tunes that are good for getting around, getting down, or just kicking back and learning all the layers and nuances that are hidden within. Two Way Mirror is reminiscent of the B52’s over a crispy-cool baseline and light drone-pop percussion. The half shout lead made vocals relay a sincere sense of urgency and frustration, and the new-wave vogue in the female leads serve as a perfect counterweight. Apocalypso recalls Talking Heads, with a wave of ambience sitting behind a perfectly subdued minimalist rhythm. The accenting, effect-laden guitar lines recall both disco and a relaxing island calypso, like a dream sequence during the rapture. Ice Storm opens with a sustaining organ and tribal-sounding drums, to the tempo of a slow trudge through a frozen tundra. The tension builds with each element added, bringing dissonance and space, drops it off at the midway point, and does it all over again in a completely different tone for an extended cataclysmic groove that seems to carry on forever, and you’ll enjoy every savoury bit. Though there is so much going on throughout the record, it never feels dense or forced, and every swell, chord and synth feels essential, organs keeping a body alive.-Cody Wright
