Tommy Metz

Tommy Metz is at something of a crossroads with his main project, Iuengliss: He’s talking about going fully instrumental on the next album, and the The Blossom Frontier sounds a lot like a musical release valve. True to the form of his previous work, there are two types of songs: electronic ambience and positive-thinking pop. Except here the split is roughly fifty-fifty, way heavier on accessible stuff than before. “Kid State,” an epic, shimmering pop gem of such blinding optimism you’d be masochistic to deny it, is where it works best, but the album opens with four straight head-boppers before “A Gentle Fall,” which you can interpret almost literally in terms of the vibe. Metz has been listening pretty hard to labelmates Astrophagus, it appears. A little squirm-inducing in places overall, but well worth the free download.