Three for three. All different bands. All within the last seven months. Few have will ever close to being able to say they’ve been able to pull off that kind of creative fete in the way Chris Natividad — guitarist and lead vocalist of Marbled Eye as well as drummer of the modernist noise-pop collective, Aluminum, who both recently put out solid albums in their own right — has in 2024. Consider his accolade as the MVP of the Bay Area’s underground rock scene solidified here with colder shade blue, the debut album from his solo-ish art rock outlet, blue zero.

This one doesn’t make it easy to pin down what you’re about to experience, however. He’s saved his most sonically dynamic listen for last, and for that reason, it makes for a heady trip if you’re into alternative rock that warps and distorts the outlines of noise, pop, shoegaze, post-punk, and psychedelia without every concretely coming into one distinct form before shape-shifting once again before your ears. This is also to say it’s a very mood-driven pedal driver, too.

The listen’s impressionistic energy rather rips through the atmosphere in whatever Natividad hums across its emotive spectrum, from inner anxieties to outward bliss all transmitted equally through fully amped instrumentation he performed in the studio himself (though, its live band has since fleshed out this matter with members Lauren Melton of SUCKER and Rick Altieri of Blue Ocean joining the fold.) Zoning out alongside its buzzing melodies is more than welcome. For those who also wish to be tranquilized by these outer limits of guitar rock, colder shade blue is a strange, yet familiar place you can go to get there from someone who knows that area well.

Highlights: “broken by a glance”, “lemon year”, “foot in the grave”

blue zero’s colder shade blue is available now on Lower Grand Tapes.

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