Santa

  The second EP from Champaign, Ill.’s Santa solidifies and tweaks the band’s brand of infectious, psychedelic indie-pop. Throughout the six songs, Santa shows a distinctive sound while allowing room to experiment with song structure and textures.

  Tracks that first come off as relatively straight pop curve down some unexpected, dynamic detours—an instrumental breakdown or two here (a cascading fuzz bass and synthesizer riff in “The Crumble”), a slight genre shift there (a Mediterranean midsection in “Hashish”). The album drifts effortlessly from sounding like recent Wilco (“Nightsong”) to tossing in a few guitar turns reminiscent of Johnny Greenwood (“Over” and “Gasolines”). This is melody-driven music packed with catchy, harmony-filled choruses. After just one listen, don’t be surprised if some of those choruses pop up and get stuck in your head (in the best way possible).