Michigan dream rock quartet FAWNN are somewhat of a Great Lake State supergroup, comprising members from Kiddo, Child Bite, the Nice Device, the Von Bondies, Javelins, Thunderbirds Are Now!, and Those Transatlantics. FAWNN meld catchy boy/girl harmonies, shimmering melodic guitar interchanges, infectious grooves, and bright synths for what I like to call REM listening. They are set to drop their sophomore album, Ultimate Oceans, this summer, and “Galaxies” is both the opener and lead single.

The song is appropriately named, floating in celestial glimmer with twinkling guitar lines weaving in and out of each other like a space craft navigating asteroids. The huge hook, “Now that we’re allowed to touch it’s over/ Galaxies inside,” is a dark shade on the bright aesthetic, capturing the letdown after the thrill of the chase is over for a wonderful tension. Guitarist Mike Spence had this to say about the darker approach to this song:

Before we started making the record, we went into BGC to track a cover for a Fraggle Rock compilation. Pretty sure the Henson people hated what we did, but that’s how it goes, I guess. I had just moved away and some other stuff was happening then that had us all sort of bummed out. Dark Journey type stuff. But, the sounds we were able to get on that recording really laid a foundation, I think, and gave us confidence to pursue the record.

Listen below.

CD tracklist:

01 “Galaxies”
02 “Secret Omnivore”
03 “Nose Bleed”
04 “Shadow Love “
05 “Dream Delivery”
06 “Master Blaster “
07 “Survive “
08 “Phantom Phantasy”
09 “Red Moon”
10 “Watching You”
11 “Pixel Fire”
12 “Galaxies” (Remix)
13 “Shadow Love” (Remix)
14 “Red Moon” (Remix)
15 “Pixel Fire” (Remix)

Vinyl tracklist:

01 “Galaxies”
02 “Phantom Phantasy”
03 “Watching You”
04 “Secret Omnivore”
05 “Dream Delivery”
06 “Survive”
07 “Red Moon”
08 “Nose Bleed”
09 “Master Blaster”
10 “Shadow Love”

Ultimate Oceans is out 6/17 via Quite Scientific. Pre-order is available in physical and digital formats.

CREDIT: Alicia Gbur