Ty Richards’ psychedelic dance-pop debut Zillion powers up then deflates. Narratively, it’s a hodgepodge of emotion. The album opens befittingly with “Spaceman,” recounting small moments as an astronaut, then jumps from the overwhelmingly gratuitous “Naked Girls” to recap his youth in “I Don’t Want to Come Home.” It closes with love song “Baby Baby Baby, Etc.,” living up to the pointedly abstract nature of the album. Synths and rhythms make up somewhat for the lack of order lyrically, enveloping and entwining them. A nostalgic rock beat intermingled with glittery space vibrations laces each song with the next. Superficially magnificent, but thoughtfully deficient.
This article appears in August 11 • 2017.