From Indian Lakes started out in 2009 as an emo band — an atmospheric, post-rock-leaning emo band, but an emo band nonetheless — and they eventually signed to Triple Crown Records and toured with bands like Balance & Composure, so they got pigeonholed into that whole “emo revival” thing. They’ve been clearly moving away from that for a while, though, and with “Dimly Lit” their most ambitious and genre-defying album yet there’s really no way to pigeonhole them into anything. For this album, From Indian Lakes took a more DIY route than they’d taken since the early days. Frontman Joey Vannucchi wrote, recorded, and produced the whole thing himself in his apartment in Harlem, and they self-released the record, and just put the early singles out straight to the fans, without premieres or press releases or anything like that. If Dimly Lit ends up being referred to as a “hidden gem” or an “overlooked record” or something, that might be part of why.
But DIY doesn’t mean rawer or more bare-bones in the case of Dimly Lit; it’s From Indian Lakes’ most expansive and collaborative album to date. Joey worked with a handful of impressive guest vocalists, including Half Waif’s Nandi Rose Plunket, Queen of Jeans’ Miriam Devora, PVRIS’ Lynn Gunn, Lemolo’s Meagan Grandall, and Tummyache’s Soren Bryce, and their voices all make for a nice contrast with Joey’s airy, boyish croon.
Instrumentally, it’s still an indie rock record, but synths are the driving force, and the result is just great electronic indie pop, the kind of thing that could appeal to fans of anything from The Postal Service to Imogen Heap to M83. Like those artists, Dimly Lit has an alluring synthy atmosphere on the surface, but at their core, these are singer/songwriter songs that would work just fine on an acoustic guitar. It’s easy to let the aesthetic do all the work with music that sounds this pretty, but From Indian Lakes always make sure there’s substance and depth in the mix too.
