itwascoolandfunny:

Craft Spells - Gallery EP

Dear Craft Spells,

About a year ago, I reviewed your debut album “Idle Labor” and I did not like it. You guys may or may not have read it, but I recall your official band tumblr liking that post; an instance that left me red-cheeked with embarrassment. I was a young and foolish boy, one still getting the grip of reviewing music. I still am that boy, just with a year of life under my belt and in that, I came to know, understand and adore “Idle Labor” through the myriad of romantic moments I shared with life in the past year.

So now I own a vinyl copy of the album, I hum your melodies when I go for walks in attractive metropolitan cities and lace fragments of your lyrics within daily conversation with my girlfriend. I hope this can be understood as a truce or a formal apolog for misunderstanding the sincere intentions your music has and the decadent lo-fi nostalgia it lives in.

As for my thoughts on your new EP, “Gallery”, I find it just as charming and starry-eyed when I truly got a grip on “Idle Labor”. The overall instrumentation sounds like you guys have settled into a comfortable groove and things have ventured further into their roots. The reverb is heavier, the melodies are hazier but everything remains vivid and realized even through the added level of sonic fog. Heavier doses of said effects, however, tend to clash with the songwriting, leaving gems like “After the Moment” and “For the Ages” left to be desired. Yet, I find “Gallery” to be an ideal, concise work to display Craft Spells’ style and intent. It offers a slice of familiar retro-pop with a distinguished twist well enough to garner Craft Spells a name brand status.

Thanks for all the music,
Zain (Writer of That’s My Dad)