Type “Cardi” into Spotify and, c’mon, you know what you’re gonna get. But go ahead, keep typing those three extra letters until you get to “Cardioid,” and not only will your finger muscles thank you for the quarantine exercise, your designated in-apartment dance floor will too. Cardioid, the infectiously propulsive project of LA’s Lizzy Ellison has followed up 2017's Parts Dept. with Fantasy Metal, the first of two EPs due out this year.
Opener “False Starts” touts an immense chorus, delivered in swells and showcasing a vocal range and delivery not dissimilar to La Force’s Ariel Engle or Mitski’s distorted warble. The lyrics, often wide-eyed, hopeful, and grotesque ("Make me marathon to the theater in your bones" ... "Harvest me, my love") wouldn’t feel foreign in a Hop Along song — but Ellison wears her neuroses on her songs’ sleeves, in ways that are distinctly her own. Between the crystal ball synths of “Word Up” and the theatrical chaos of “The Time After This,” Cardioid absolutely has our attention with one of the best EPs of the year so far.
