BATHS

For as long as Will Wiesenfeld has been Baths, he?s been trafficking in perfect - or, more often and more interestingly - near-perfect pieces of pop. His music, which merged the glitchy, punishing gloom of L.A.?s beat scene with sunnier melodies and vocals that often drifted into falsetto, was an instant sensation. It was as experimental as it was comforting, a warm blanket made from the rarest linens. Publications like Pitchfork heaped praise on his debut album, 2010?s Cerulean, which codified the sound; Obsidian, which followed (receiving Pitchfork's coveted Best New Music nod) three years later, in part chronicled Wiesenfeld?s recovery from a ghastly illness, and was even more well-received. A classically trained singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, Will first emerged with his Baths moniker in 2009, after a stint as [Post-Foetus] and the birth of another, still-active project known as Geotic. His 2017-release, Romaplasm, exists in the emotional crevices that are left unexplored in polite company or at stilted cocktail parties. Less outwardly grim than the darker half of Obsidian - but twice as bittersweet - this LP reimagines approachable pop songs as pieces of scaffolding that can be lived in, expanded and retracted, or torn down entirely. In the past few years Will has released remixes and features for Odesza, Hrishikesh Hirway (creator of the podcast Song Exploder), Katie Dey, and Loraine James, among many others. His "re-imagining" of the Imogen Heap song "The Quiet" in 2019 was a definitive highlight.