Aggregator starts out innocently enough – ambient sound and gently plinking tubular bells greet your ears before dropping into an innocuous ’80s-inspired electronica texture. Here’s SLTS’s first trick – they blast into one of the most supremely catchy synth-pop choruses I’ve ever heard. Singer Summer Krinsky’s voice warbles with wild precision, sounding unhinged and laser focused all at once.

Song two, “Android Hymn,” is an early album highlight. A choppy loop and staccato “hah hah hah” vocal stabs start flitting around your headphones like a wild, acid-trip-inspired dance around a glowing campfire. Reminiscent of early Animal Collective, Krinsky somehow turns this into a mastercraft of earworm composition, the chant like “I’m gonna, I’m gonna, I’m gonna take you” drilling deep into your frontal lobe and latching on like a welcomed parasite. This may be a strange comparison, but “Android Hymn” reminded me a lot of the music in the Forest Temple from Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time – and while I’m risking sounding like a nerd making comparisons like that, nothing feels off-limits when you’re talking about eclectic music like this.

SLTS never pigeonhole themselves into one genre on Aggregator – songs like “Mental” explore blistering breakbeats with a house music undertone; the polar opposite can be found on “Times Track Lines” with its relatively simple guitar/bass structure that might be more comfortable on a Rilo Kiley or Great Grandpa album (if you’re a fickle listener, start here – it’s the most traditional composition on the album). More commonly, you’ll find compositions that mix the icy cold complexities of Radiohead with the tribal thump of freak-folk (think “Savings” or “Quit Your Day Job”). Many of these songs feel like a trance, eschewing modern pop songwriting for experiments in capturing the present in aural form.

Album closer and clear highlight “Terms and Conditions” is an exercise in measured minimalism – with an intro reminiscent of “Cecilia” by Simon & Garfunkel, it quickly evolves into something a bit more like “All I Need’ by the aforementioned Radiohead. Deep squelching synths with plenty of of stop/start jerkiness lurch the song forward as Summer’s lilting voice twists and turns overtop. The song explodes in a much needed release of pent up energy, and after such an angular buildup, it feels like a vibrant explosion of shapes, colors, and energy. A perfect way to end such a strange and wonderful journey.

Aggregator is out April 5th, 2024. Check out a preview of the album below via YouTube with the embed of “Android Hymn”

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