Hamilton, ON-based indie outfit The Crowleys — founding members Cohen Wylie (guitar, vocals, production), Stuart Downie (drums, vocals),and siblings Justyn (synth, guitar) and Collin Horlick (bass, bass synth), along with Giuliana Frontini (vocals) — can trace their origins back over a decade: The band’s founding quartet met and bonded over their shared love of music back in high school. As a quartet, the band built a reputation for crafting kaleidoscopic psych rock and for stage rattling live shows across the Greater Toronto Area.
With the addition of Frontini back in 2019, the band evolved to focus on more melodically forward psych pop material that draws from 60s rock, 80s pop and modern psychedelia rooted in driving and crunchy rhythms, distinctive synth warble, diverse vocals and pedal-driven guitar lines. Their songwriting process is highly collaborative with each member of the band brining their own musical interests and expertise to the table. The finished product, polished by Wylie’s distinctive production style can be described as high energy psych pop steeped in nostalgia.
The band’s full-length debut Strange Seasons has humble origins: The material was born from a group of friendly getting together to show each other the new song idea that they had come up with. Thematically, the album’s material touches upon environmental angsts but with a romantic current throughout: The album’s lyrics often reference a relationship with another person as a means of surviving catastrophe. According to the band, “the album attempts to put the strangeness of the world into words and melody.”
Written by the band’s Justyn Horlick, album single “Seasons” is a slow-burning and gauzy track featuring glistening synth warble, reverb-drenched guitar, a supple bass line and a steady rhythm paired with Frontini’s breathy coos. The song’s coda was inspired by Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings‘ “100 Days, 100 Nights” with a trippy time signature change from 4/4 to 6/4. But despite the dreamy, shoegazer-like gauzy quality, “Seasons” is informed by environmental anxiety: The song’s lyrics were written by the band’s Frontini on a hot November day, when she noticed that she was unsettled by the unseasonable temperature.
Shot on grainy Super 8 Film, the accompanying video for “Seasons” is an abstract look at the allure of consumerism and its resulting environmental impact.
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