The latest release from Saucer eyes, Tunnel Vision, is a lenghty tour through the group’s unique brand of lofi psych-pop. At eighteen tracks, the run time is almost as expansive as their sound. This is big music with a lot of disparate ideas molded into a singular mass. It’s arty party music, mixing Radiohead-esque experimentation with Dandy Warhols-like hooks, all within a Black Moth Super Rainbow-adjacent psych-drone soundscape.

The vocals are treated more like instruments or instrumental layers than vehicles for lyrics. This obfuscation prioritizes the music and conveys a sense of ritual, as if multiple voices were casting spells. This hypnotic layering occurs not only in the instrumentation but also in the structure: most of the songs start with a call to movement from one or two instruments and are followed as the songs progress with arpeggios, cascading melodies, and lush pads. 

While the atmosphere and sound design feel grounded and organic, the hypnotic nature of these tunes transport the listener to new mental terrain. At times reminiscent of Yo La Tengo’s more trance-like work, Tunnel Vision showcases a rare ability to commit to a dynamic until it becomes transportational. At times I find myself imagining preternatural landscapes, at others busy city scenes. While the music turns my attention inward toward these imagined scenes, the consistent harmonies also suggest a shared interiority. It’s downtrodden, but not lonely. There’s joy in these minor keys.

Eighteen songs is a lot, and few of these are brief. The collection feels more like an omnibus of disparate songs than a crafted album, yet it flows if you have the time to let it run. None of the songs feel unfinished or rushed. Rather, each song feels like a firm commitment to an idea that’s been seen through to completion. If some tracks are a little more ramshackle than others, this only provides a lofi charm to the album’s otherwise stoic delivery.

While trance-like and transportive, the general arc of the album concerns being and becoming, turning and transforming, and doing your best to enjoy this in unison. Tunnel Vision is an offering, an invitation, and I don’t mind if I do.