From the minute 'Good Feelings' arrives unassumingly in a haze of spiralling electronica and understated guitars, Chicago's Light Pollution set about cultivating a certain subdued atmosphere on debut full-length Apparitions, and by and large, they succeed. There's an ethereal-but-accessible quality to all of this, and it's a record best described as a stylish, dense pop record for the thinking man.

Obvious hooks are hard to come by: the appeal of the likes of 'Drunk Kids' fuzzed-out euphoria comes more in the bigger picture: the way the multi-layered vocals mesh with the reverb-soaked instrumentation to create a swooning wall of sound that's neither brash nor lightweight. 'Fever Dreams' is a more obvious effort, but even at their most accessible, there's a few layers of complexity buried in the mix. It's a record that – for the mostpart – wilfully shuns the well-travelled roads, and when the payoff comes in the Amusement Parks on Fire-esque histrionics of 'Bad Vibes', it all starts to make sense.

While Apparitions is not free from imperfections – see the frustratingly ambling 'Deyci, Right On - what it is is a startlingly accomplished and ambitious debut, and one which is likely to be treasured by those who are willing to seek it out. Shoegaze-infused pop melancholia at its finest.

Rating: 4/5 by Mitch Bain

Tracklisting

1. Good Feelings
2. Oh, Ivory!
3. Drunk Kids
4. Fever Dreams
5. Deyci, Right On
6. Bad Vibes
7. All Night Outside
8. Witchcraft
9. Ssslowdreamsss

Further links

Light Pollution on Myspace

Chicago shoegazers Light Pollution on MySpace.