Under the moniker Miserable chillers, New York’s Miguel Gallego (also of Dicktations) has been following a circuitous and esoteric creative path for the last six years. Beginning as a bummed-out indie rock act, Gallego has slowly but surely morphed and evolved, eventually landing in an unpredictable and singular style that we described previously as “experimental pop [which] refus[es] to sit still and be boxed into any one subcategory.” Despite (and perhaps because of) this varied output, Gallego had never released a full-length record. That is, until earlier this month, which introduced Audience of Summer, the debut Miserable chillers LP.
In many ways the record feels like a culmination of Gallego’s creative journey and confirms the transition of Miserable chillers from a lo-fi indie rock project to a fully fledged baroque pop endeavour. Gallego emphasizes the formative effect of afternoons spent listening to Prefab Sprout, Clube da Esquina and Kate Bush, and the diversity of these influences shines through—highlighting how he is not content for Miserable chillers to be just another bedroom lo-fi band. Gallego called upon the help of several collaborators to realise this ambition, including Jeremy Stoddard Caroll on pedal steel, Isaac Gillespie on guitar and Sarah Goldfarb on cello, as well as backing vocals from Megan Braaten, Kabir Kumar and Lele Dai.
Opener ‘Saga’s Sword’ could have been beamed in from some lost era of the 80s, upbeat guitar and slapped percussion juxtaposed against Gallego’s sombre vocals and a background lattice of poignant synths. Indeed, the music of the Eighties is a definite point of reference across the record. Take for example the high-summer easy groove of ‘La nave del olvido,’ the smooth vulnerability of ‘The Glass,’ or the slow-burning but richly layered odd-pop closer ‘Antipodes,’ all of which hark back to bygone era while still sounding very much of the here and now.
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Thematically, Audience of Summer draws on multiple sources, both cultural and personal. A complex tapestry is woven, one capable of exploring personal growth and the passage of time, and interrogate humankind’s relationship with the natural world. Annie Dillard’s Pilgrim at Tinker Creek is a big influence, particularly on songs which find Gallego meditating on his upbringing in suburban New Jersey and the not-so-wild nature that surrounded him. Despite ostensibly being pop songs, Audience of Summer borrows Dillard’s sense of stillness, her appreciation of the seasons and insistence on careful observation of one’s surroundings.
‘Calendar for Annie’ is the most obvious example (opening “i pressed the peach to get a feel for time”), but others follow the theme more subtly, and it ends up being the takeaway of the record. Built upon a field recording from East Williamsburg, ‘City of Eyes’ is the perfect example, finding Gallego ruminating inwardly while observing the city he now calls home. “All the lordly idiot light,” Gallego and Braaten sing, a nod to James Agee. “In the morning, this summer in the city of eyes / that’s what’s making me cry I guess.”
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Audience of Summer is out now via Baby Blue and you can get it from the Miserable chillers Bandcamp page.
