Crumbcatcher’s Infinite Feedback is a journey through a vast thematic and sonic landscape from the moment the lights come up on the sparkling fade-in opener “Inflorescence.” Pulling from various unexpected strains of inspiration from Frank Ocean to Slowdive to Steely Dan, this Las Vegas-based five-piece has been making innovative and heartfelt emo-tinged indie rock since they first got together in 2019, and their spacious sound recalls the boundless expanses of Nevada desert. On their sophomore record, they’re weaving their multigenerational and multigenre influences into a bold new sound that balances the subtleties of subtextual songwriting with moments of emotional explosiveness.

These songs travel through space and time; soaring guitar melodies, battering breakdowns, and celestial hooks take the wheel while past selves and experiences flicker in the rearview mirror. Their arrangements are textured, decadent, and have a way of defamiliarizing their lyrics in the way that mimics the shifting and reshaping of memories as time goes on, whether it’s the jangly, dissonant shred of the title track, the extraterrestrial-sounding synths and autotune that heralds in “Soft Triangles,” or the way all the instruments on “Fire, Walk With Me” start out sounding miles apart from one another before crashing into each other at the classic rock-meets-screamo chorus.

Zigzagging deftly between punk, emo, even moments of shoegaze and dreampop, Crumbcatcher expertly synthesize their vast musical range into a series of vulnerable, high-energy tracks. They’re a brilliantly unpredictable group, one that can string together a heavenly melody and just as expertly smash it to bits. Crumbcatcher’s cohesion is their superpower. Their expansive palette makes for streamlined spontaneity and songs that surprise the audience with each listen. - Grace Robins-Somerville