Fovea Steve Shaw - bass, guitar, vox Max Weigel - guitar, vox, keys, electronics Jake Denicola - drums, vids, foley Halley Furlong-Mitchell - vox, keys, violin The function of the fovea—a cone-laden well within the retina—is discernment of depth and detail. And for New York-based four-piece Fovea, depth and detail are all. On the surface you get the giddy, swooping whimsy of boy-girl vocal volleys and keyboard quirks, but the more you listen, the further you’ll delve...and the more you’ll perceive. Perhaps the best part? What you’ll hear on Fear Of, Fovea’s disarming debut EP, will be yours and yours alone. “There’s a universality to our music that lets listeners understand it in their own individual way,” Halley says of the the aural kaleidoscope spinning rock, pop, jazz, ambient and psychedelia. The band members—drawn to each other at Skidmore College despite sonic backgrounds and influences as far flung as hip-hop to opera—take a collaborative approach to songcraft. “Someone will come in with an inkling, and we’ll workshop it through improvisation or discussion,” Max explains. “We all like to toy and tinker with structure, groove and lyrics,” adds Steve. If that makes for a certain complexity, so be it. “Our music is pretty involved, often with multiple changes and parts within a song,” says Jake, admitting, “We definitely don’t make it easy for listeners. We want to challenge you a bit.” Don’t expect to be spoon-fed literal lyrics either. “We have no intention for how our words should be received,” says Halley, who with Max penned the lion’s share of Fear Of’s abstract poetry. “We’d rather encourage interpretation and connection than impose anything specific.” Yet Max allows: “We do a lot of social- and self-examination—the band is a musical means to explore ourselves and our surroundings—so it would be cool to inspire our listeners to do the same.” Feel free, via such songs as “Saudade,” delicate and dreamy with dark underpinnings; “Green/Gold,” a jazz masterpiece masquerading as a pop song; and the driven, daring “Drown.” And just for the fun of it—because yeah, this is fun—check out the four minutes of guitar glissades, unexpected rhythms and pure ebullience of “Puppy” (not to mention the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5HFzO6S82o). And if the album offers you one experience, Fovea in performance will give you something else again. “We have an intricate, subdued effect on record, but we’re louder and more aggressive live,” says Jake “Lots of feedback, distortion, digital effects—a much wilder realm.”  This is music that Sound Review called: “A statue of sound, a monument of creativity and true expression that will easily stand the test of time. Fovea is different.” Or as Steve sums up their mission: “A retexturing of familiar sounds and instruments that aims to open ears to new applications and permutations of ‘traditional’ pop music.” Fear not! Just Fear Of...