Colle’s tranquilized ballads reach back and push forward

There is a crispness to Colle’s Montalvo that has brought me back to it on an almost daily basis since it was released in November. The debut album from Maya McGrory, who is also a part of the experimental New York group Chanel Beads alongside Shane Lavers, never feels busy or overcomplicated, with the ambient, synth-led pop songs given room to breathe and feel in real time. Putting it on has become a morning staple for me, like cracking a window and letting a refreshingly icy breeze cut through the morning fog.

Some of the songs have a romantic hue, such as on “Green Edge” when McGrory sings “It’s all for you, I don’t deny it.” A similar message of commitment and sacrifice is repeated on “Winter Garden,” one of the darker songs on the album in which the production is nodding to the kind of digital rot dredged up by Oneohtrix Point Never. These songs, though clearly underpinned by longing and some distress, all float with a preternatural sense of calm.

McGrory cites childhood as a catalyst for her songs, and this retrospective view is matched by a production style that also often looks to the past for inspiration. Trip-hop drums usher in both “Day You Told Me” and “Held By You,” the latter bleeding rough guitar noise deep into the mix to add a few pleasing bumps to the sleekness that acts as its dominant shape.

Elsewhere on Montalvo, McGrory taps into something far more prescient. At many points throughout the album’s 28-minute runtime she sounds like she could be a distant cousin of Mica Levi or the burgeoning collective of artists currently pushing the limits of dream pop in Copenhagen. A shimmering song like “Await for Love,” part rustic, part alien, would fit perfectly on a playlist alongside the similarly uncanny ML Buch and Astrid Sonne.

If you only listen to one Montalvo song, though, make it “A Real Atone.” It’s placed toward the end of the album but stands clear as the perfect distillation of what Colle is reaching for here. The guitars on the song have an almost chopped and screwed effect on them, warped strums that coil their way around McGrory as she sings. In one of the most cleanly delivered vocals on the album, the words “I still believe” emerge fully formed. McGrory doesn’t specify her belief but sings the line with pride and defiance, bringing a sense of optimism and hope to the front. Montalvo is filled with these moments of heart, encased in a glassy exterior but clear for all to see.