Ears Wide Open: Crescendo

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Crescendo (Photo via Jorge Meza Photography)
Crescendo (Photo via Jorge Meza Photography)

Young Los Angeles rockers Crescendo call themselves hopeless romantics with a science fiction fetish — and they have tunes suited to space travel. Their sophomore album “Unless” (out Friday) will make fans of vintage U.K. shoegazers feel as if they’re in a time warp too; it’s full of sanguine melodies propelled by post-punk beats, disaffected boy/girl vocals and washes of dreamy guitar textures. The album is the work of Gregory Cole — who via his DreamGaze collective is organizing the four-day DreamGaze Music & Arts Festival starting March 31 — Olive Kimoto and Jess Kirchelle. Unlike many albums in its genre, “Unless” (being released by We Were Never Being Boring) does not dawdle. Only three of the 12-track, 31-minute album’s songs clock in at more than 3 minutes, giving it the feel of cascading dream sequence you want to last a little longer.

||| Stream: “Tell,” “Pressure” and “Yet”

||| Live: Crescendo will celebrate their record release on Feb. 29 at Harvard & Stone. They also perform as part of the DreamGaze Festival starting March 31. Full lineup and details to be announced.