Missed Connections is the full-length studio debut of San Francisco indie rockers
High Sunn. It's worth noting, however, that songwriter
Justin Cheromiah started using the name for his homemade Bandcamp releases in 2014, when he was just 14 years old. In the four-year interim, across dozens of releases, he slowly moved away from a heavy garage rock influence to explore shoegaze, punk, and sound experiments, settling more and more into a dream pop-informed melodic guitar pop. Following the addition of an official lead guitarist, bass player, and drummer, and the release of a studio-recorded EP (2017's
Hopeless Romantic),
Cheromiah still hasn't abandoned a lo-fi sensibility that reflects stated influences like
Frankie Cosmos,
Car Seat Headrest, and
Beach Fossils. The band opens
Missed Connections with "Summer Solstice," a hooky tale of separation and heartbreak with surfy, summery guitars. Feedback and distortion are favored on "I Thought You Were There," though the vast majority of the tunes are sweetly harmonic. Without clouding the view, that sweetness is knocked slightly out of focus by a steadfast reverb, loose performance style, and disappointment ("I'm a terrible person whose heart is broken"). Meanwhile, via part-sung, part-shouted vocals,
Cheromiah acts his age with lyrics about graduation, kissing, "Freshman Year," and love at first sight (spoiler alert: it doesn't work out). Meta-album highlight "Dedication" is an earworm about writing a song -- this song -- for the object of his affection to dance to. A whirlwind of melody, warm chords, rattling guitars, and teen angst, it's an irresistibly catchy quasi-debut that surpasses the "promising" label.