Digital Season: CTLYA’s “Winterreise”

Dead Funny Records releases a lot of uptempo indie-pop, so how does a young outfit such as CTLYA stand out from the pack. Well, dipping their vocals in a little bit of digital noise helps a bit. “Winterreise,” off of the just-released Personal Life album. Musically, this touches all the usual indie-pop points — driving guitar, hooky center, slight sense of ennui hanging over the whole thing. So what does a dab of Auto-tune add to that? Well, partially it simply allows this stand out from the indie-pop pack, though within “Winterreise” itself it adds a slight sonic weirdness, like the singing could dissolve in on itself at any second. Listen above.