Ears Wide Open: Down Time

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Down Time (Photo by Holly Hursley)

Denver ex-pats Down Time make indie-rock that sounds influenced by everything you would have heard at a music festival in 1970 — spacious folk that leans lyrically into the sanguine, infused with woozy psych to tie-dye for and solid enough grooves to get hips shaking.

The trio — Alyssa Maunders, Justin Camilli and David B. Weaver — debuted in 2017 and released their first album, the presciently titled “Hurts Being Alive” (made with Pat Riley and Alaina Moore of Tennis), in March 2020. About a week later, COVID-19 paralyzed the music biz, scotching their tour.

Late last year, the trio moved to L.A., where they are rolling out singles for their new album, “Spirit,” out Oct. 7. The making of the album over the winter was a DIY affair at a house in the Colorado mountains near the Continental Divide.

Maunders’ bold vocals chew up the scenery, to good effect, on “Melted,” a spacey track that arrived with a homespun video directed by Camilli. It’s Camilli’s guitar that leads the way on the other single, “So Far Away,” as Maunders waxes eloquently on isolation and its sting.

||| Stream: “Melted” and “So Far Away”