iji – “The Pattern Grows Clearer” (Stereogum Premiere)
On last year’s Whatever Will Happen LP, iji ringleader Zach Burba took his collaborator-heavy pop pastiche project to new heights, and he’s already built up the reserves for another new record, Bubble, which is due out later this year. “The Pattern Grows Clearer” is the record’s crisply-realized lead single, an oasis on the horizon made up of shifting and shimmering shapes, just slightly out of focus. Burba’s voice makes soulful leaps across deep grooves, broken up by the tension-releasing chant of “the pattern grows clearer,” like Burba’s single-handedly making more and more sense of things with each repetition. Listen below.
Bubble is out this spring via Team Love.