Recommended EP: Glixen – ‘quiet pleasures’

Glixen have had the kind of success come quickly that should naturally cause anyone to pause and wonder if all of the buzz is merited. Since emerging out of nowhere — or, perhaps more equivocally, the perceived power of virality behind shoegaze’s TikTok wave which has furnished other fast-rising stars like Wisp and given new life to the careers of once-forgottens like Duster — the Phoenix quartet have already played Nothing’s Slide Away fest, opened for Interpol, Turnover, and DIIV, and are booked to appear at this year’s Coachella. There’s a professional skateboarder in the band, and at one point, someone lit up discourse over whether or not they could be taken seriously because the members are apparently too attractive.

And yet, none of this answers the question as to whether or not Glixen, as artists, are deserved of your attention. quiet pleasures, their sophomore extended play, should easily answer that question. Across five tracks, vocalist Aislinn Richie alongside lead guitarist Esteban Santana, drummer Keire Johnson, and bassist Sonia Garcia have grown beyond the feedback-drenched aesthetical tutorial of their 2023 debut, She Never Said, and muscled up with melody within their wall of sound that — backed by the embossed production of Sonny Diperre (My Bloody Valentine, DIIV) — hits a sweet spot between heavily and heavenly.

Richie’s haloed voice etching its way to the foreground on standouts like “all tied up” and “sick silent” suggests the band is growing more confident in rendering their songs around pop-minded substance in the vein of golden era Smashing Pumpkins or more currently that of Fleshwater, and held within the balance of the lush speaker-blown lullabies of “avoid” and “lick the star”, and capped off by the listen’s eardrum-blistering instrumental intro, “shut me down”, the EP feels like an early taste of their wider screen ambitions coming together strongly. If you’re going to be making all of that noise upon your arrival, you may as well go all out in maximizing your presence sonically. Glixen sound eager to do so. With quiet pleasures, they’re just making sure you’re ready, too.

Highlights: “shut me down”, “all tied up”, “sick silent”