Photo by Jocelyn Pacheco

Though there are enough examples from shoegaze’s next wave of static swirlers out there leaning heavily onto the sound as an aesthetic flex without thinking through each and every one of those layers beyond numbing gratification, Glixen aren’t shaping up to be one of them. We’ve been hearing the slow maturation of the young Phoenix four-piece’s ever since setting the scene with last year’s promising She Only Said EP and continuing on in a series of singles this past year. “lick the star” — the first preview from next year’s second EP, quiet pleasures — is the closest we’re heard them float to the surface graze. There’s a careful balancing act here between its opening moments revering in a lush, dream-pop dissipation from the celestialsphere only before a deluge of feedback-drenched alternative rock changes the course of gravity, ripping the listen back into deep space with turbulence. If the universe is chaos, then Glixen are savoring its taste.

Glixen’s quiet pleasures will be released February 21st on AWAL / Wichita Recordings.