Writing of the album out of love in the face of a shadow back in 2022, we described how Ryan LoPilato’s Credit Electric drew on everything from Hiroshi Yoshimura and American Football to Dire Straits and Magnolia Electric Co. to conjure a diverse sound able to probe the full intricacies of suffering, resilience and recovery. A number of singles have followed in subsequent months, all building towards six, a brand new full-length out now via Royal Oakie Records.
With a team of collaborators including Cameron Iturri-Carpenter (guitar), Evan Hiller (pedal steel), Judith Horn (saxophone), Paul Montes (bass), Alex Miner (drums), Eva Goodman (violin, voice), Lanéya Billingsley (keyboard) and Brian Ellis (clarinet), LoPilato again weaves a tapestry of lush sounds and melancholic moods, all processed through a cosmic desert country style. Opener ‘house of cancer’ is suggestive of the presiding tone of the record, where the drifting tones offer a reflective kind of sadness which submerges the artist and audience both. Single ‘backseat driver’ follows suit, a shimmering indie pop song that’s light a sonic lenticular image, alternating between cool melancholy and the warm glow of contentment as you turn it around in your brain.
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Those looking for the best way into the record could do a lot worse than starting with the short film which accompanies it. Directed by Billie Ocean, the video collects three singles—’shadow of doves’, ‘$@Lt’ and ‘phony’—into a single film, not only introducing the key themes of the record but expanding upon them with its dreamlike imagery. It shifts from the retro nostalgia of old-timey monochrome to a vivid burst of film-grained colour as it follows anthropomorphic animals on a quietly epic journey.
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six is out now via Royal Oakie Records and available from the Credit Electric Bandcamp page.
Album art by Lanéya Billingsley (Billie 0cean) and Ryan LoPilato