Radiation City hail from Portland. The band has crafted its own space-age doo-wop sound which is hard not to fall in love with. Founding couple Cameron Spies and Lizzy Ellison have spent the last couple of years reinventing the groups from its original 2013 lineup. Synesthetica sees the band polishing up its old style and going through a complete overhaul in both its process and its sound.

Synesthesia is a medical condition whereby a person links one sensual experience with another. Ellison has personal experience if it - seeing specific colours when she hears different musical sounds.

Synesthetica contains 9 songs (38 min, 12 sec), and kicks off with the upbeat 'Oil Show' which really shows off Ellison's incredibly rich vocals. It's a fairly "normal" start to the album and everything sounds like we're in for a impressive Indie Pop album, but over the remaining tracks Radiation City play with our senses and emotions as they throw song after song at us with genreless defining qualities.

Tracks like 'Milky White' take the sound of ABBA and bring it kicking and screaming into the 21st century; 'Sugar Boom' opens with a bizarre electronic whistling before moving into a trippy, catchy beat that is so hard to forget; 'Futures', likewise, is an instantly memorable, trippy track. In fact, there's little point in running through each song and expanding on its merits... this is an album that is a fun ride from start to finish.

I totally loved this album and can't recommend it enough.

10

Nick Smithson