Ears Wide Open: Pair of Arrows

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Pair of Arrows
Pair of Arrows

Pair of Arrows’ debut EP “Walls” comes at you like an art-house movie, filmed spectacularly in dark hues and simmering in conflict, all of it inner. The L.A. electro trio’s escapes into dreamscapes are the work of vocalist Swan Palermo (who appeared on the Glitch Mob’s debut “Drink the Sea”), along with keyboardist-producer RD White and drummer Brandon Burkart (The Saint James Society, Cathedral Club, Dead Dawn). Palermo’s siren vocals carry the day, sultry and mysterious enough to make captivating the songs’ opaque isolation. Fans of down-tempo MUNA or the Japanese House might be enthralled by “Walls,” which came out last week via L.A.’s Blank City Records, which has the distinction of releasing music via X-ray flexi-discs. (That’s right, an image of your innards can be made into a collectible, and ostensibly playable, musical document.) Owing to the wealth of moody, dark, well-crafted electro-pop in the marketplace right now, we’re not sure “Walls” has the same currency as an X-ray flexi-disc, but “Step Again” and “Night Sky” are songs you ought to look into, not through.

||| Stream: “Step Again,” “Night Sky” and “Walls”