Photo courtesy of Antonioni

Antonioni, Antonioni’s debut full-length, opens on their January 2021 single, “Mouth Breather.” The first riffs are clean — shiny and ethereal — with a prominent drum fill from Kyle Todaro to kickstart the track. As the track moves through classic dream pop and indie rock instrumentation, like the textured distortion on the lead guitar, “Mouth Breather” (and all the tracks on Antonioni) diverges from the genre norms in frontwoman Sarah Pasillas’s lyrical structure. Rather than relying on a typical chorus/verse framework, Pasillas’s lyrics mimic beat poetry as they wind through the peaks and valleys of Austin Dean’s plunging guitar leads. She sings, “Cause I’m a backward thinking, oh mouthbreathing witch with such bad potion / The finish line’s behind me I ain’t lost, but you can’t find me ‘cause I’m a backward walking, oh shit talking bitch with such bad timing,” teetering in tone between comedic tease and a big ole fuck you. This airy freedom immediately makes me feel like grabbing my bike on a spring day and flying down hills with my arms held out like an airplane.

In her comfortable range, Pasillas has an undeniably unique tone to her voice. It’s both raspy and angelic while simultaneously mastering the sultry drowsiness reminiscent of the 90s. The instrumentation from Todaro, Dean, and bassist Ben Dorcy throughout the album highlights her: songs like “Shiver” and “They Never Greatly Flew” are deeply intimate and vulnerable, sharing experiences of womanhood, self-understanding, and other people’s expectations. Pasillas’s lyrics make you feel like you’re processing the world in tandem with her — or, at the very least, on the backseat of her tandem bike.

In a release announcement for “Mouth Breather,” Pasillas said all the songs on Antonioni talk about “self-compassion in the face of absurdity and embracing the strangeness and sadness of life.” It’s the perfect album to play when you want to outrun where you are. If you’re going to take this LP for a spin, I’d recommend riding to Golden Gardens Drive from 85th (find freedom in flying down the pothole-filled hill, at your own risk) and then through Shilshole Bay Marina. Bonus points if you do it on a partly cloudy afternoon.

Formed in spring 2016, Antonioni has become a staple in Seattle’s indie rock scene since releasing their first single, “Lullablaze,” in 2017. Antonioni, out March 26, is Antonioni’s first project released by Lauren Records — a Southern California-based independent record label founded in 2011. (P.S. They have a band tee featuring a neighborhood cat drawn by Todaro you can preorder now.)

About another stand-out track, “Malcomer” (released as a single in October 2020), Pasillas told the Brooklyn Vegan: “A ‘Malcomer’ is the man who is never questioned, who gets to be who he is by default — no one is trying to control him.” The song is a story about sticking it to those men who tell you you’re not enough through buttery, cosmic guitar riffs with brazen distortion (check out Dean’s fuzz pedal DIY).

Toward the end of the song, Pasillas sings, “Identify me by sound, or do you fear what you’ve found? Is the question too tough? Am I still here? Is that enough?” Through the subtle sarcasm of a “picture-perfect dream,” this track conveys a struggle for independence and adequacy in the face of male-controlled spaces. Her explorative lyric structures come into their full potential by building a vivid story of a “Malcomer” with sentiments like “gentlemen can act out” and “I’m in good hands but I ask: Who controls you?” You won’t be surprised to learn Pasillas majored in poetry at Western Washington.

I had to search for the holes in this album because Antonioni is exactly what I want out of a solid LP with its rich lyricism, floating guitar distortion, and grounding drums and bass. Here’s what I came up with: While Antonioni is a successful dive further into the rabbit hole of Antonioni, it is predictable and anticipated, a logical next step for this beloved dream-pop quartet. There are no instrumental surprises or genre-bending melodies. But there is pointed lyricism and quality instrumentation.

While most of the album largely reflects indie rock motifs, Antonioni also leaves room for heavier and lighter surprises. When the second to last track, “Nothing in the Dark,” approaches the bridge, you might feel the urge to hit a few air guitar solos or a deep longing for the indie rock “mosh pits” at The Sunset (that more resemble a bouncy house at your best friend’s 8th birthday party). Echoing vocal effects, Todaro’s driving drum layers, and plenty of distortion on Dean’s guitar leads make this song stand out as the heaviest track on the LP. Have this queued up as you’re ascending one of those deceivingly steep Seattle hills on your bike ride home.

Alternately, album closer “Bramble” is a soft goodnight kiss with fluttering fingerpicking. The track flirts with folk-inspired lyrical motifs of thorns and bushes yet manages to skirt the edges of cliche by bringing in intimate moments: “Sunday we’ll sleep in,” “we could go out, we could stay home,” and “hold my finger up to my neck to check if my body’s still keeping the rhythm you set.” Perhaps it’s just me, but reminding myself I am alive over the last year has felt increasingly important. In this track, I feel submerged in the moment when everything becomes untangled, and at last, there is clarity. I feel seen. Am I the cliche?

Cliche or not, we all need a moment to feel free from how strange the world is. Plug-in your headphones and hop on your bike (because what else are you doing right now!?) to feel the riffs of Antonioni cascade through your cochlea, guided lyrically by Pasillas. Pedal past all the families having picnics, quarantine puppies, and the vitamin-D-deficient-Seattleites. Find a moment to feel the fresh air. Escape into this album, and relish the collective absurdity of life.