New Figure: “Glitch”

I’m not sure why all my favorite music from Nagoya makes me feel like I’m suffocating, but it does and I keep coming back for more (see House Of Tapes, for one). Figure has always ostensibly made indie-pop, the sort of skippy stuff that is a little editing away from being twee, but he’s always taken his style to a goopier place. “Glitch” highlights this skill well — it features one of his catchiest melodies to date, but gets cemented in by loud guitar which reduces his singing to something you’d hear coming down the hall. And the best touch comes via the percussion…not the straightforward drum machine beat (though the mechanical iciness fits in just right), but rather the burned-out stomps puncturing an otherwise dreamy song, adding a harsh dash of reality to it all. Listen above.