Stream: Crown Plaza, ‘Crown Plaza’

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Crown Plaza
Crown Plaza

“The universe, it talks to me,” Nima Kazerouni sings on “No Need to Shout,” one of the songs on the first full-length from Crown Plaza.

Over the years, it’s said a lot, as Kazerouni has juggled leading his “day” band So Many Wizards with Crown Plaza and a few other side projects. Kazerouni has a penchant for turning those conversations into poignant pop.

He actually launched Crown Plaza back in the halcyon days of 2012, fresh off a breakup that led to his living, temporarily, in a space near LAX with a view of the Crowne Plaza hotel. He called it “airport-inspired electronic breakup music” back then; the music has since evolved into breezy and often melancholy psych-pop — dream-pop for solitary afternoons at the beach, if you will.

Kazerouni is joined in the band by Christina Gaillard (HIPS) on drums and vocals, Martin Roark (Tomemitsu) on bass and vocals and James Roehl on lead guitar. And “Crown Plaza,” the self-titled album that came out last week, is a dreamy ride through the history of the project, compiling early singles with later material, all recorded with producer Scott Barber at his Barber Shop Recording Studio in Echo Park and mastered by John Greenham.

The album shifts moods subtly — contrast the narcotic popgazing of “Staring at the Wall” to the nimble nuggets “L.A. to Seattle” and “Perfect People,” both of which stand out for their crisp commentary. Fans of ’60s guitar pop — and artists who’ve advanced that sound in this millennium — will want a vinyl copy of “Crown Plaza” when it arrives in January. Kazerouni might be right: There’s “No Need to Shout.” But there’s every reason to wistfully sing along.

||| Stream: “No Need to Shout” and “Perfect People”

||| Also: Stream “Crown Plaza” in its entirety

||| Previously: “Perfect People” “Staring at the Wall,” “Reactor,” “Frontside”