FOREVER

Vancouver’s EKKSTACY became an electro-emo hero by packing big emotions into compact bedroom-pop dimensions. But for this third full-length, he abandons his usual DIY drum-machined methodology for a full-band attack that highlights the difference between bouncing around on your mattress and stage-diving into a festival crowd. On *FOREVER*, the low-tech post-punk minimalism and Soundcloud-rap graininess of old gives way to pure ’90s alt-rock nostalgia and Warped Tour worship, with the yearning melodies and high-octane riffs of tracks like “seventeen” demonstrating why he was tapped to open stadium shows for blink-182 in the summer of 2024. But *FOREVER* also sees EKKSTACY moving beyond the in-your-face/heart-on-sleeve approach of pop-punk and immersing himself in the gauzy textures of shoegaze and dream-pop: “head in the clouds” echoes the slow-motion guitar surges on the classic Smashing Pumpkins album cut “Mayonnaise,” while the closer “keep my head in down” is a twinkling, twangy lullaby that travels down Mazzy Star’s lost highway.

Tricky-to-label Vancouver artist EKKSTACY mixes melancholy instrumentals and hazy vocals on deeply reflective third record.