“What kind of damage are you running from? / What kind of damage do you want to be reminded of?”
That double-edged lyric comes from “Damage Crawler,” one of four stellar tracks on Glitzy‘s new Sorted Out EP. The Milwaukee five-piece have delivered bursts of winning indie rock before—2023’s “Engulfed” is an atmospheric standout—but Sorted Out feels like a truly cohesive first step. It’s nineties lo-fi indie/shoegaze/emo spiked with synth, all shot through with the occasional lyric that sticks in your head like gum. (See above.)
Opener “Clover” lumbers to life with fuzzed-out instrumentation and vocals before getting a sparkling jumpstart in its final minute. For all its trauma-centered lyrics (“I got it all sorted out / Sorted out in a fucked up way”), “Damage Crawler” in a jittery head-bopper that opens with—believe it or not—a Dr. Steve Brule sample. (Skrateboards!) Meanwhile, “Marble” adds some acoustic guitar to the mix, and closer “Shadow Puppet” piles on the distortion.
Glitzy is a young band—it formed in 2022, via the timeless magic of Craigslist—but its synth-flecked sound is one that’s both unique and ripe for further refinement. Likewise, Sorted Out is both a statement of purpose and a promise of things to come. Stay tuned.
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