Buhu’s live video EP, 2014’s 4-track Cinemat, embodied spontaneity through nonstudio settings: in trees, while getting a tattoo, in a food truck. Debut LP Relationshapes hasn’t surrendered any of that freewheeling ethos under the production of Brad Bell (Arcade Fire, Spoon) and mixing and mastering from Jeff Lipton (LCD Soundsystem). All parties cohere on the local trio’s brand of electronica, which relies on post-pop guitar licks and glittery, Eighties-style choruses. “Youth Is Breaking” banks on an earworm riff, synth acting only as a distant complement. The band goes full-tilt electro on spring-break-ready opener “Get Down,” creating a digital wonderland of programmed vocals and pulsing beats. “My Baby Burns So Bright” melds those two specialties, delivering a sonic drive that, even though recorded in the confines of four walls, expands far beyond them.
This article appears in February 26 • 2016.