untitled (halo) avert reality with deadpan dreamscapes

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There is a pleasingly demonic edge to “thats honey,” the latest single from L.A.-based indie rock trio untitled (halo). “You wanted it all,” So used to the fall,” Jack Dione whispers with devilish intent, seemingly haunting his bandmate Ariana Mamnoon. In her verses on the urika's bedroom-produced song, Mamnoon is focused on angels and how “summer feels like a different way to be high,” as if the sunshine is blinding her from the darkness lurking ahead. “that’s honey” is one of a raft of songs the band has released this year that quietly tweaks the slacker playbook, injecting dream pop jams with a tightly-sound physicality and an ambient acknowledgment of doom. It makes their music both deeply felt and utterly addictive.

The band all grew up in Southern California but didn’t meet until a couple of years ago, introduced to each other by mutual friends. They quickly agreed to work together and wrote their debut single, “el prado freestyle,” the first time they got together to jam. That single dropped last year and was quickly followed by an EP, towncryer. Both “el prado freestyle” and the EP make interesting use of space, with Jay Are’s drums staying loose and giving his bandmates a groove to work with. “Limewire,” named for the file-sharing service that helped millions of millennials inadvertently download virus-filled MP3s to their parents' desktop computers, has a hushed and drowsy energy that pulls you in closer. The EP is raw and a little shaggy but you can hear a band coming together in real time. They experiment with caustic guitar tones (“oblique butterfly”) and pop hooks that take flight on top of speedy drums (“spiral”) as they surge toward a sound to call their own.

This year the band has released two official singles, “that’s honey” plus “sKill isSue.” The latter came out in May and marks a notable step up in terms of production and fidelity. Dione and Mamnoon’s words are both delivered with a cool detachment, a tone at odds with the spiraling nature of their lyrics. “When I can’t be on my own I find that I can’t have control” Mamnoon sings to an absent partner, singing her way through the discomfort without ever letting it win.

There are shades of Warpaint in their way these songs ripple into hypnotic cycles, while traces of bar italia’s lo-fi moodiness can also be felt. The band say they prefer to look to the movies for inspiration, though. In a recent Teen Vogue feature they cited Dazed & Confused, Streetwise by Martin Bell and Dennis Hopper’s Out of the Blue as fixtures on their moodboard. “We make little movies through songs,” Dione said while namechecking movies that capture the perfection and horror of adolescence.

In addition to these singles, untitled (halo) has also appeared on Road Less Traveled 2, the latest compilation from London-based label Scenic Route. They line-up alongside contributions from Nourished By Time and Copenhagen duo Coined with their song “Pedal Petal,” an echo-laden ballad and one of their sweetest moments to date. This run of singles, alongside the RIP Swirl collaboration “Negative Fantasy,” marks an impressive run from a group that is becoming more assured as they develop, loose enough to sidestep the limitations of genre boundaries while avoiding ever repeating themselves.