Blending ambient shoegaze, space pop, and fierce psychedelia, Williams brings tones of chaos and desperation into a beautifully presented and mystically charged work.
Lemniscate
Salonislam/No Pain in Pop
Grandson of celebrated composer John Williams, Los Angeles-based artist and multi-instrumentalist Lionel Williams (aka Vinyl Williams) certainly had the genealogy in place to become a sonic designer. But with his debut record Lemniscate, the 22-year-old gets way more otherworldly than the elder Williams did when he scored Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
Written and performed entirely by Williams, Lemniscate sounds like an extension of the collage art he’s gotten worldwide attention for. Blending ambient shoegaze, space pop, and fierce psychedelia, Williams brings tones of chaos and desperation into a beautifully presented and mystically charged work.
Though Williams delivers something
all his own, a lo-fi version of Radiohead
comes to mind as an influence for the
guitar work in songs such as “Follow in
Your Dreams” and “Object of the Source.”
“Inner Space” and “Open Your Mind,”
on the other hand, evoke thoughts of
the atmospheric 6-string style of Archer
Prewitt. Paired up with Williams’ haunting
vocals and the lush layers of beats, bass,
and synths, Lemniscate is a nicely executed
collection of spells. —Rich Osweiler
Must-hear track: “Harmonious Change”