With Apparitions, comparisons can easily be made to
Animal Collective’s later albums, along with many of the so-called “Chillwave” artists on
Light Pollution’s home of Carpark Records. Like
Beach House,
Toro y Moi,
Montag, and
Dan Deacon, there is a similar underwater vibe of washy instrumentation and psychedelic echoes spread throughout
Light Pollution's debut. For the making, Jim Cicero lived alone in a huge, 30,000 square foot warehouse on the outskirts of Dekalb, IL. Stuck without a car for the winter, he retired to his empty hanger, wrote, smoked pot, and recorded for days at a time without any interaction with people or links to the outside world. This feeling of isolation envelops the bulk of Apparitions. It’s a psychedelic, claustrophobic mush of layered synthesizers, organs, drum pads, and breezy voices reflecting against the walls of wide-open corridors; evocative of the unsettling feeling of being completely alone in a very big space, à la David Bowman or Sam Bell. After winter passed, drummer/vocalist Matthew Evert and multi-instrumentalist/vocalist
Nick Sherman joined up with Cicero (along with a violist and a few bassists) to put finishing touches on the record and bring it to life. This comes across particularly well on the chamber pop crescendos and singalong hooks of “All Night Outside” and “Good Feelings.” ~ Jason Lymangrover