Daiana Feuer on June 10th, 2015

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Chris Lynch and Adam Rasmussen say the third Gardens & Villa album, “Music for Dogs” (out Aug. 21 via Secretly Canadian), marks a return to their formative DIY roots, a rejection of commercial pressures to conform, and whatever new-age sentiment running through the duo’s first two albums has been replaced by what they call “Zen pop Nihilism, or “Buddhism with a fuck-it attitude.” Don’t worry, they’re not mad at the world or complete skeptics. It means, probably, to reinsert a disregard for establishment into the equation of music making and art as life. All this trickles through on the single, “Fixations.” There’s mischief in the lyrics, playfulness in the vocals soaring from high to low, which compliments the phasing instrumentation, and overall it’s a finger-licking palatable artsy pop jam. There’s just enough to keep the song straddling between mainstream and experimental. If a listener wants to read between the lines, there’s cerebral fodder for the taking. Or, just turn it on, tune out, and enjoy the shimmery vibes.

||| Stream: “Fixations”

||| Live: Gardens & Villa play June 26 at the Center for the Arts Eagle Rock.

||| Previously: Live at the Echoplex, “Love Affair,” live at Figat7th, “Colony Glen,” “Bullet Train,” “Black Hills”