Ices [LP]

Singer/songwriter Lia Ices' sophomore effort, 2011's Grown Unknown, was a gorgeous collection of subdued, ethereal textures and melancholic hooks. Guest vocals from Bon Iver frontman Justin Vernon on one track didn't hurt when it came to drawing attention to this lesser-known artist, but her haunted blend of Grizzly Bear-esque chamber indie instrumentation and lushly sad songwriting stood on its own throughout the album. Three years and a relocation from Brooklyn to Northern California later, Ices returns with third album Ices, branching out into an entirely different direction from the ghostly sounds that came before it. With the exception of Ices' soaring vocals, often layered in bounding walls of harmony on top of each other, the album is almost completely incomparable to previous work, the soft-spoken acoustic arrangements left behind for multicolored samples, electronic beats, and interjections of synthesizers and washed-out guitars. This drastic change of sound is aided by production from notable chillwave/electronic mavens Benny Sagittarius and Clams Casino, offering beats that feel crisp and at times enormous in their scope. The remarkably catchy "Higher" sounds like a hybrid of Panda Bear's sunny loops and a huskier version of Grimes' impressionistic electropop. The lazy lope of "Love Ices Over" experiments with some of the same architecture of vocal snippets that made Blue Hawaii's Untogether so interesting, lacing wordless coos over a gliding palette of Beach House-esque melodies. ~ Fred Thomas