Eyelids Hones Its Melodic Melancholy on Album Number Two

On "Or," the band sticks with what works—gentle rockers bright enough to distract from the weariness at their core.

By Matthew Singer

Eyelids, Or (Jealous Butcher)

[INDIE POP] "She said, 'If I can't keep from sighing, why can't you?'" Eyelids' Chris Slusarenko sings on "Slow It Goes," the first song on the band's second album, an expression of shared ennui that's made to sound like bliss. Melodic melancholy is the group's signature, and on Or, it sticks with what works—gentle rockers bright enough to distract from the weariness at their core. It's a classic power-pop move, and coming from a supergroup of side players, whose résumés include stints alongside Robert Pollard and Colin Meloy, a well-studied one. Peter Buck produces, as he did Eyelids' 2015 EP, and "Camelot" and "Falling Eyes" jangle and sway like Reckoning-era R.E.M. Buck also dusts off his mandolin for the waltzing "Ghost Ghost Ghost," a fine detail on an album full of small glories. While the volume might nudge in either direction, the mood of sweet sadness never breaks, and though the scenery starts to look the same after a while, the tender craftsmanship ensures it's never not lovely. 

SEE IT: Eyelids play Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi Ave., with Point Juncture WA and Jackson Boone, on Thursday, May 4. 9 pm. $8 advance, $10 day of show. 21+.

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