The solo project of Vancouver musician Larissa Loyva,
Kellarissa ends a stretch of seven years between albums with her third LP,
Ocean Electro. Among other credits earned during the time after 2011's
Moon of Neptune, she traveled as a member of touring bands for
Destroyer and
How to Dress Well and released an album with
Shimmering Stars' Elisha May Rembold as the duo
Fake Tears.
Ocean Electro continues the trajectory of her prior solo albums and
Fake Tears toward a more assertive, structured synth pop. However, while the majority of it is danceable, it seems more suited to headphones or nighttime driving than a club. Throughout, a retrained, melancholy quality not only suits Loyva's delicate vocals but often emphasizes them. On "Mirabel," for instance, she layers continuous multipart vocal harmonies over '80s post-punk synth tones and electronic drums. The increasingly otherworldly vocals are only eclipsed at the end of the track when, after seeming to be caught in swirling machinery, they give way to a solo keyboard line. Looping effects appear throughout the album and were also used in the writing process. It's
Kellarissa's most consistent album to date in terms of committing to a sound; Loyva described it as synth pop mixed with "femme psych electronica." The term seems especially apt for songs like the trippy, more meandering closers, "Hey Hey Rosé" and "The Radio." While the impression is likely aided by lyrics that at least in part address the environment or the destruction thereof, at the end,
Ocean Electro seems to float away into the cosmos. ~ Marcy Donelson