With layered guitar melodies floating above showers of golden coins and washes of twinkling rainbows, The Depreciation Guild pulls from an 8-bit Nintendo soundcard to create the pixelated glow of their pop dreamscape. A smoky voice works its way up through bitmapped ether, instilling three-dimensional life in the shadowless digital scene. The group deftly mixes light, high-lilting vocals with flat drum smacks, while tightly winding guitars buzz from distortion and sunny digital sounds snatched from long-past Saturday mornings fill in all the empty spaces.
On their new album, Spirit Youth, multi-dimensional sounds travel to and from an electronic fantasyland. The lush composition casts the chip’s bleeps and bloops in a supporting role that doesn’t invite too much attention, but rather supports an affective array of tracks; “Blue Lily” breathes the fresh air of a true, weighted life, while “My Chariot” catches onto an echoing tune that repeats in bright, inanimate bliss.